| 24th Reconnaissance Squadron | |
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Emblem of the 24th Reconnaissance Squadron |
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| Active | 1942–1994 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
The 24th Strategic Squadron is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with the 55th Wing, stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. It was inactivated on 1 July 1994.
The squadron was inactivated as part of the post Cold War drawdown in 1994 and replaced by the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron.
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Activated in Mid 1944 as a B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment squadron; trained under Second Air Force using B-17 Flying Fortresss until the units B-29s could be manufactured and delivered to the unit in Nebraska.
Deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO), assigned to North Field, Tinian under XXI Bomber Command. Flew very long range strategic bombardment missions over the Japanese Home Islands, attacking military, industrial and transportation targets. Switched to night incendiary raids attacking major Japanese cities in the spring of 1945, causing massive destruction of urbanized areas. Continued strategic bombing raids and incendiary attacks until Japanese Capitulation in August 1945.
Squadron remained in Western Pacific, although largely demobilized in the fall of 1945. Some aircraft scrapped on Tinian; others flown to storage depots in the United States. Remained as a paper unit assigned to Twentieth Air Force until inactivated on Okinawa in 1948.
Reactivated in 1951 and redesigned as a heavy bomb squadron. Initially equipped with B-29s for training, equipped with B-36 Peacemaker intercontinental strategic bombers in 1953 for operational use. Initially was equipped with B-36Fs. Later Featherweight III B-36Js were added, the squadron operating both types. Carried yellow stripe on the tip of the vertical stabilizer; the lip of the jet intakes and the "nose cone" of the jet itself along with triangle-R tail code. SAC eliminated tail codes in 1953. In 1957 the B-36s were replaced with B-52E Stratofortress aircraft and all squadron markings were eliminated. Remained equipped with the B-52s until the closure of Walker AFB in 1967. Re-equipped with RC-135 Cobra Ball/Cobra Eye aircraft to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real-time on-scene collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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