Operations from India

678th Bombardment Squadron Boeing B-29 with diamond tail markings used in the CBI^{[lower-alpha 3]}

In early April 1944, the squadron left the United States and deployed to a former B-24 Liberator airfield at Charra Airfield, India. The first airplane of the 444th group landed at Charra on 11 April 1944. Due to the lack of revetments at Charra the squadron's airplanes were parked wingtip to wingtip on the field's shorter runway. Charra served only as a maintenance and staging base. Its runways were too short for a B-29 to take off fully loaded. While the squadron was stationed there, all missions were flown from the bases of the other bombardment groups of the 58th Bombardment Wing.^[6]

From India, the 678th planned to fly missions against Japan from advanced airfields in China. However, all the supplies of fuel, bombs and spare parts needed to support operations from the forward bases in China had to be flown from India over The Hump. For this role, one aircraft from the squadron was stripped of combat equipment and used as a flying tanker. Each aircraft carried seven tons of fuel, but the amount that was delivered to China depended on weather, including headwinds and aircraft icing which increased the fuel consumption of the "tankers."^[7]

The squadron flew its first combat mission on 5 June 1944 against the Makasan railroad yards at Bangkok, Thailand. Ten days later the 678th participated in the first American air attack on the Japanese home islands since the 1942 Doolittle raid, staging through Chinese bases on a nighttime raid against the iron and steel works at Yawata, Japan.^[8] It returned to Yawata on 20 August on a daytime raid for which the unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.^[2] Operating from bases in India and at times staging through fields in China, the group struck transportation centers, naval installations, aircraft plants and other targets in Burma, China, Thailand, Japan and Formosa.^[4]

On 12 October 1944 the group reorganized. The 679th Bombardment Squadron and the four bombardment maintenance squadrons were disbanded and their personnel and equipment were transferred to 677th and the other squadrons of the group.^[2][5] As the new year started, Japanese advances forced withdrawal from the Chinese forward operating bases. Unable to continue attacks on Japan, the unit continued attacking targets in Southeast Asia.^[4]

Operations from the Marianas

In the spring of 1945 the 444th and the other groups of the 58th wing moved to West Field (Tinian) in the Marianas in order to continue operations against Japan. The group and squadron participated in the bombing of strategic objectives, strategic mining of the Inland Sea and in incendiary attacks on urban areas for the duration of the war. The 678th received a second Distinguished Unit Citation for attacking oil storage facilities at Oshima, bombing an aircraft plant near Kobe, and dropping incendiaries on Nagoya in May 1945. The squadron struck light metal industries at Osaka in July 1945, receiving a third Distinguished Unit Citation for this action.^[4] The squadron's final mission was flown against Hikari, Japan on 14 August 1945, the day before the Japanese surrender.^[9]

Continental Air Forces

The 678th returned to the United States and Merced Army Air Field, California in November 1945 where it became part of Fourth Air Force of Continental Air Forces . Shortly after arriving at Merced, the squadron converted to the reconnaissance mission and became the 10th Reconnaissance Squadron, Very Long Range (Photographic).^[2] March 1946 saw more changes as the 10th squadron was reassigned to the 311th Reconnaissance Wing, which inactivated it at the end of the month.^[2] Some of its assets were used to form a provisional unit, the Air Weather Reconnaissance Unit 1.57 (Provisional), which was formed for monitoring nuclear tests.^[10]

Air reserves

The squadron was activated again in the reserve as the 10th Reconnaissance Squadron (Photographic) in 1947 at Rochester Airport, New York as part of the 26th Reconnaissance Group, which was located at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport.^[2][11]It does not appear that the squadron was fully manned or equipped with operational aircraft while at Rochester.

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 called for corollary units at 107 locations. It was viewed as the best method to train reservists by mixing them with an existing regular unit to perform duties alongside the regular unit.^[12] The squadron moved on paper to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in June 1949. At Langley it became a corollary of the active duty 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group.^[13] It was assigned advanced trainers and trained for supporting Army ground units providing aerial photography with these second-line aircraft for battlefield intelligence. It received a few jet North American RF-86A Sabres in late 1949. President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force,^[14] and the 10th was inactivated and not replaced.^[2]

Strategic Air Command

Boeing RB-4E Stratojet

The squadron was reactivated at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio as the 10th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the active duty 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing in 1952.^[2] Due to Korean War the squadron had minimum personnel strength until mid-1953. The squadron gathered intelligence on a global scale using Boeing RB-47E Stratojets, participating in a variety of SAC directed exercises and operations between 1953 and 1958. These included numerous simulated combat missions and deployments, ranging from a few days to a few months. The squadron became non-operational in January 1958 as phased down for inactivation due to budget constraints, inactivating in July.

Tactical Air Command

The squadron reactivated at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, on 1 January 1966^[1] as a Tactical Air Command McDonnell RF-4C Phantom II reconnaissance squadron. It conducted replacement training for combat crew members being deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. It was inactivated in June 1971^[1] as part of the drawdown of forces assigned to Indochina.