World War II Training in the United States The
787th Bombardment Squadron was activated at
Alamogordo Army Air Field on 1 August 1943 as one of the four original
squadrons of the
466th Bombardment Group. After training there with
Consolidated B-24 Liberators, the squadron departed for the
European Theater of Operations in February 1944. The ground echelon proceeded to the port of embarkation for transport to Europe by ship, while the air echelon ferried their Liberators via the South Atlantic Ferry route.
Combat in Europe The squadron arrived at its combat station,
RAF Attlebridge in England in March 1944. It flew its first combat mission on 22 March in an attack on
Berlin, Germany. It engaged primarily in the
strategic bombing campaign against Germany, with targets that included oil refineries and facilities at
Bohlen and
Misburg,
marshalling yards at
Liège and
Saarbrücken, factories at
Brunswick,
Kempten and
Eisenach, repair facilities at
Reims, mining facilities near
Hamburg and airfields at
Saint-Trond and
Chartres.
Fighter operations As the United States Air Force expanded its
McDonnell F-4 Phantom II fleet in April 1965, it activated the
33d Tactical Fighter Wing at
Eglin Air Force Base Florida. Although it was planned that the squadrons of the 33d Wing would be
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger squadrons that were inactivating in the Pacific, these squadrons were still winding down their operations, so the 33d was initially formed with the
786th, 787th,
788th and
789th Tactical Fighter Squadrons. The 33d embarked on a program of tactical training with the Phantom. In June 1965, the squadron was inactivated and its planes and personnel were transferred to the
16th Tactical Fighter Squadron, which moved on paper to Eglin from
Misawa Air Base, Japan.
Expeditionary unit In April 2006, the squadron was converted to provisional status as the
787th Air Expeditionary Squadron and assigned to
United States Air Forces Europe to activate or inactivate as needed. It deployed to
Karadje,
Niger in July to support Operation Eagle Vision, downloading satellite imagery for mapmaking. The squadron was activated at
Dakar,
Senegal, where it established a transportation hub for
Operation Unified Assistance, the US military name for humanitarian operations to limit the spread of
Ebola in West Africa. It relieved members of the
Kentucky Air National Guard's 123d Contingency Support Group. It continued airlift missions with
Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft for the next four months. ==Lineage==