The squadron arrived at its combat station, RAF Rackheath, England, on 11 March 1944, and entered the strategic bombing campaign on 10 April with an attack on a military air base at Bourges. It attacked targets such as factories at Bonn, Osnabrück and Stuttgart, power generating facilities at Hamm, and the harbor at Kiel. It also attacked the German aircraft industry at Brunswick, and other objectives. In September 1944, the squadron spent some time transporting fuel to France to support the Allied advance toward Germany.[3]
The squadron was occasionally diverted from the strategic campaign to engage in air support and air interdiction missions. On D-Day, it attacked shore installations and bridges near Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. During Operation Cobra, the breakout at Saint Lo, it bombed troop concentrations and supply dumps near Montreuil. It attacked German lines of communication and fortifications during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 through January 1945. It bombed enemy transportation to assist Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945. The squadron flew its last combat mission on 25 April 1945.[3]
^The aircraft in the foreground is Ford Motors built Consolidated B-24H-25-FO Liberator, serial 42-95234. This aircraft survived the war and returned to the United States on 11 June 1945. Baugher, Joe (15 July 2023). "1942 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
^Approved 7 March 1945. Description: On a white disc flecked with horizontal lines of turquoise blue, edged black, a caricatured figure in tan and brown flight suit, helmet, and boots, wearing a gray headset, having three yellow electrical flashes emanating therefrom, and gray goggles, running toward dexter over small light turquoise blue cloud formation in base, smoking a cigar and peering through a black and yellow telescope held in the right hand, and towing three B-24 aircraft attached to strings held in the left hand.
Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England, UK: Macdonald and Company. ISBN978-0-87938-638-2.
Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force In World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-0-7643-1987-7.