Air echelon reorganized in Australian Northern Territory and fought in Dutch East Indies and New Guinea Campaigns until equipment depleted. Moved without personnel or equipment to Hunter Field, Georgia. Re-equipped first with Douglas A-20 Havocs then North American A-36 Apache Apache fighter-bombers in the United States, then deployed to North Africa, assigned to Twelfth Air Force. Redesignated 523d Fighter-Bomber Squadron in August 1943 after Sicilian Campaign. Re-equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, then Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and engaged enemy forces as a tactical fighter squadron during the Italian Campaign. Supported ground forces in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France and drive northwards though Lyon until linking with Allied ground forces in eastern France. Returned to Italy and engaged enemy forces in the Po Valley, then returning to France in the spring of 1945 and supporting ground forces during the Western Allied invasion of Germany in March/April 1945. Squadron demobilized in Germany summer 1945, being inactivated as a paper unit in November 1945.