World War II Training in the United States The first predecessor of the
squadron was constituted in January 1942, shortly after the
attack on Pearl Harbor, as the
28th Reconnaissance Squadron. However, before it was activated at
Orlando Army Air Base, Florida on 1 June 1942 as one of the four original squadrons of the
100th Bombardment Group, it was redesignated as the
418th Bombardment Squadron. The
Army Air Forces (AAF) decided to concentrate
heavy bomber training under
Second Air Force, and before the end of June, the squadron moved to
Pendleton Field, Oregon. Its intended equipment changed to
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. As a result, the squadron only began organizing in October 1942, after it had moved to
Gowen Field, Idaho. The following month, it moved to
Walla Walla Army Air Field, Washington, where it received its first operational aircraft and began training. For this action, the squadron was awarded the
Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC). Two days later, German fighters shot down the leader of the
45th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the 100th Group took the lead in another attack on Berlin. From the summer of 1944, the 418th concentrated on German oil production facilities. On 8 October, it lost seven aircraft on a raid on
Bremen, including its lead and deputy lead aircraft. Only two days later, it lost twelve aircraft on an attack on
Münster, again including the lead aircraft. The only group plane returning from that mission had lost two engines and had two wounded on board. Its highest one day loss occurred on the 6 March 1944 attack on Berlin, when 15 bombers failed to return. On 11 September 1944, the
Luftwaffe put up its heaviest opposition in months, destroying 11 of the group's bombers. On 31 December 1944, half the
1st Bombardment Division's losses consisted of a dozen 100th bombers. With a group authorization of 40 B-17s, it lost 177 planes to enemy action. It does not appear the squadron was fully staffed or equipped with operational aircraft. In 1948
Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve and
Air National Guard units from ADC. The 418th was inactivated when ConAC reorganized its reserve units under the
wing base organization system in June 1949. To implement this new system B-47 wings reorganized from three to four squadrons. The 418th was activated at
Pease Air Force Base as the fourth squadron of the
100th Bombardment Wing. The alert commitment was increased to half the squadron's aircraft in 1962 and the four squadron pattern no longer met the alert cycle commitment, so the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962. On 1 October 1992 it was consolidated with the
418th Bombardment Squadron and the following day, the consolidated squadron was designated the
418th Test Squadron. A year later, the
412th Test Wing reorganized under the Objective Wing system, and the squadron was reassigned to the
412th Operations Group. On 1 May 2015, the
445th Flight Test Squadron, which had been supporting test operations at Edwards was inactivated. Its mission was divided among other squadrons that were operating Combined Test Forces. In this realignment, active duty tanker crews, engineers and program managers moved to the 418th along with their aircraft and missions. Starting in 2019, the squadron began Phase III testing of the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus. Prior phases of Pegasus testing had been led by
Boeing Aircraft. This testing included certification of aircraft that could refuel the KC-46 or be refueled by it. At that time, the squadron was involved in 24 separate test projects, including upgrades for both the C-17 and the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Later that year, the squadron began tests of
Rapid Dragon, using C-130 and C-17 aircraft to air drop palletized long-range munitions systems. It has also used its Globemasters to test the parachute system for
NASA's
Orion spacecraft. ==Lineage==