427th Reconnaissance Squadron The 427th Reconnaissance Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit . It is assigned to the 9th Operations Group , Air Combat Command , based at Beale AFB , California . Mission . Re - activated on 1 May 2012 , the 427th Reconnaissance Squadron organizes , trains , equips and deploys MC - 12W aircraft and aircrew in support of combatant commander - directed operational requirements . History . Formed at Kelly Field , Texas as the 38th Aero Squadron after the United States ' entry into World War I . Not deployed to Europe , remained in the United States , being assigned to Chanute Field , Illinois , duties undetermined . Demobilized and inactivated in December 1918 . Reactivated in 1933 as the 38th Pursuit Squadron , at Selfridge Field in 1933 ; reassigned to March Field , California in 1936 , re - designated as a reconnaissance squadron and was equipped with a mixture of B - 18 Bolo medium bombers ; observation aircraft and Northrup A - 17A attack dive bombers , all used for reconnaissance . Performed reconnaissance and photographic missions in support of flood - relief operations in Southern California , 2 – 5 March 1938 . Ordered to Fifth Air Force in the Philippines in November 1941 to reinforce air defenses of the Commonwealth due to rising tensions between the Japanese Empire and the United States . Air echelon departed on 6 November 1941 en route to Philippine Islands , arrived Hickam Field , THawaii Territory , during Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 ; ground echelon departed San Francisco aboard ship , 6 December 1941 , turned around and returned to March Field on 9 December 1941 . In Hawaii , the remains of the air echelon flew patrol and search missions in mid - Pacific under direction of the Hawaiian ( later Seventh ) Air Force , later departing for Australia where the pilots were organized into other squadrons , the B - 18s being used for non - combat duties . Ground personnel reassigned to other squadrons at March ; the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron becoming a paper unit . Assigned administratively to the 19th Bombardment Group at Gowen Field , Idaho in late February 1942 . Reequipped and re - manned on 13 March 1942 , absorbing the personnel and B - 17 Flying Fortress es of the 31st Reconnaissance Squadron , which was inactivated . Received new designation as 427th Bombardment Squadron ( Heavy ) and deployed to Southern California flying antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific coast . Completed training in southwest June – August 1942 ; deploying to European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) as one of the initial heavy bomber squadrons assigned to VIII Bomber Command in England , September 1942 . Engaged in long - ranger strategic bombardment operations over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany , September 1942 - May 1945 . The 427th was one of the most highly decorated squadrons in the Eighth Air Force , attacking enemy military and industrial targets as part of the United States ' air offensive against Nazi Germany . After the German Capitulation in May , 1945 was reassigned to Air Transport Command . Reassigned to Casablanca , French Morocco , the squadron used its B - 17 bombers as transports , ferrying military personnel from locations in France to Morocco , then south to Dakar in French West Africa or to the Azores for further transportation by other units . Inactivated in place in Morocco in late July 1945 . The squadron was activated in 1959 as a result of Strategic Air Command phasing out the B - 47 Stratojet , and additional squadrons were activated as part of the consolation of Stratojet wings , and the replacement of the B - 47 by B - 52 Stratofortress es . In March 1961 , President John F . Kennedy directed that the phaseout of the B - 47 be accelerated . and the squadron was inactivated on 1 January 1962 as part of the drawdown of the USAF B - 47 force , with the aircraft were sent to AMARC storage at Davis - Monthan .