World War II Training for combat The
squadron was first activated on 1 April 1943 at
Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona as the
704th Bombardment Squadron with an initial
cadre drawn from the
39th Bombardment Group. It was one of the original squadrons of the
446th Bombardment Group. The cadre departed for
Orlando Army Air Base, Florida for training with the
Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, where they flew simulated combat missions from
Montbrook Army Air Field.
Combat in the European Theater The squadron arrived at its combat station,
RAF Flixton, in early November 1943 and flew its first mission on 16 December against
Bremen. It engaged primarily in
long-range strategic bombardment of enemy targets. Its targets included
ball bearing factories at
Berlin,
marshalling yards at
Koblenz,
submarine pens at
Kiel, aircraft plants at
Munich, port facilities at
Ludwigshafen and aircraft engine manufacturing plants at
Rostock. The May 1949 Air Force Reserve program called for a new type of unit, the Corollary Unit, which was a reserve unit integrated with an active duty unit. The plan was viewed as the best method to train reservists by mixing them with an existing regular unit to perform duties alongside the regular unit. The squadron became a "Heavy" unit in June 1949
Airlift operations at Ellington Reserve flying organizations began to be reformed in July 1952. However, the Air Force desired that all reserve units be designed to augment the regular forces in the event of a national emergency. The six reserve pilot training wings, including the 8706th Pilot Training Wing at
Ellington Air Force Base, Texas, however, had no mobilization mission. On 18 May 1955, the 8706th Wing was discontinued and replaced by the
446th Troop Carrier Wing. Along with
Beechcraft C-45 Expeditors inherited from the pilot training program, the squadron began training with
Curtiss C-46 Commandos as the
704th Troop Carrier Squadron. By late 1956, about 150
Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars became surplus to the regular Air Force, and in 1957 the squadron converted to the C-119. At Ellington, the squadron initially trained with the 2578th Air Force Reserve Flying Center, but in 1958, the center was inactivated and some of its personnel were absorbed by the squadron. Ellington was the first base to use the
Air Reserve Technician Program, in which a cadre of the unit consisted of full-time personnel who were simultaneously civilian employees of the Air Force and held rank as members of the reserves. Also in 1958, it was assigned directly to the 446th Troop Carrier Wing when ConAC converted its reserve units to the
dual deputy organization, which eliminated operational and maintenance group headquarters. Since 1955, the reserve flying force included squadrons that were not located with their parent wings, but were spread over Air Force, Navy and civilian airfields under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept. However, under this concept, support organizations remained with the wing. Although the dispersal of flying units under the Detached Squadron Concept was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the
Berlin Crisis of 1961. To resolve this, ConAC determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons at the start of 1962. However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization occurred for the
Cuban Missile Crisis. The formation of troop carrier groups was delayed until January 1963. In 1962, the squadron had begun supporting
NASA's
Manned Spacecraft Center, specifically airdrop missions of
Project Gemini spacecraft and paraglider mockups. These operations continued until 1970. with the end of reserve flying activity at Ellington. The squadron converted from airlift to
fighter aircraft in 1981 and in July of that year became the
704th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Afterwards, the squadron participated in fighter competitions throughout the United States and overseas. It trained reservists for worldwide deployment as they provided air-to-air and air-to-ground training after 1990. The squadron replaced its
McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs with
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons in July 1991. It upgraded its Vipers from the F-16A Block 15 to the F-16D Block 32 in 1994. The
1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission found that the Air Force Reserve had its F-16s stationed at too many bases and recommended that Bergstrom be closed and the 924th Fighter Wing be inactivated, with its aircraft sent to other reserve fighter organizations or retired. In September 1996 the 924th Fighter Wing and its elements were inactivated with the closing of the base. ==Lineage==