338th Combat Training Squadron The 338th Combat Training Squadron is a United States Air Force unit . It is assigned to the 55th Operations Group , stationed at Offut Air Force Base , Nebraska . Mission . The 338th Combat Training Squadron ( CTS ) is a flying organization . It performs the initial , difference , requalification , and upgrade training as the Formal Training Unit ( FTU ) for the largest and most diverse operations group in Air Combat Command . Specifically , it provides the aforementioned training programs in accordance with HHQ approved training syllabi mostly for the RC - 135 " Rivet Joint " , " Cobra Ball " , and " Combat Sent " variants and the E - 4B " Nightwatch . " The unit prepares eight squadrons in six different programs to execute worldwide reconnaissance , command and control , and treaty verification missions directed by the NCA , JCS , theater CINCs , MAJCOM commanders and national intelligence agencies . History . Established in late 1942 as a P - 38 Lightning fighter squadron , it trained under the Second Air Force in the Pacific northwest . It deployed to the European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) , where it was assigned to VIII Fighter Command in England in late 1943 . The squadron ' s mission was to provide long range fighter escort for B - 17 Flying Fortress and B - 24 Liberator heavy bombers on strategic bombing missions over Occupied Europe and Nazi Germany . In April 1944 it received P - 51D Mustang fighter aircraft and continued its primary task of escorting B - 17 and B - 24 bombers that attacked such targets as industries and marshalling yards in Germany and airfields and V - weapon sites in France . The squadron flew air patrols over the English Channel and bombed bridges in the Tours area during the Invasion of France in June 1944 . In July it attacked gun emplacements during the Saint - Lô break out . The unit patrolled the Arnhem sector to support the airborne operation in Holland in September 1944 , and in December , transportation facilities during the Battle of the Bulge . During the Western Allied invasion of Germany , the squadron flew ground support missions by strafing trucks , locomotives and oil depots near Wesel when the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945 ; it continued offensive operations until 21 April 1945 . After the German capitulation , the unit became part of the United States Air Forces in Europe Army of Occupation , at AAF Station Kaufbeuren , then moved to AAF Station Giebelstadt in early 1946 where it received its first jet aircraft , the P - 80A Shooting Star . Ii was inactivated in August 1946 , when personnel were demobilized and its aircraft were transferred to the 31st Fighter Group . The squadron was reactivated by the Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) in 1947 as a reconnaissance unit , equipped with R B - 17 Flying Fortress es . It flew aerial photography , mapping , charting and photo reconnaissance missions , some of which were around the borders of the Soviet Union and over the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany . Little was known about the air defense capability of the Soviet Union at this time , the most effective way of determining its capability was to probe the borders and see whether it would respond . Gradually the RB - 17s and other aircraft mapped the perimeter of the Soviet Air Defenses from the Baltic to the Sea of Okhotsk , north of Japan . The unit upgraded to RB - 29 Superfotress aircraft in 1949 and continued its reconnaissance mission , however it was inactivated in 1949 due to budget reductions . Reactivated in 1950 at Ramey Air Force Base , Puerto Rico , it was again flying RB - 29s , performing strategic reconnaissance , charting photography , precise electronic geodetic mapping and electronic reconnaissance missions . The squadron upgraded to RB - 50 Superfortresses in 1952 . In 1954 it was equipped with RB - 47K Stratojet s , a variant of the B - 47 which contained Side - Looking Radar and air sampling equipment . The RB - 47K ' s primary mission was meteorological data collection and weather reconnaissance from Forbes AFB , Kansas . Photographic reconnaissance was a secondary mission . These missions consisted of flying over northern Canadian skies , with two such sorties being flown in a day , Weather Alpha and Weather Bravo . Weather Alpha sorties consisted of a flight from Forbes AFB , north to Saute Ste . Marie , Michigan , then north to Hudson ' s Bay , counterclockwise around the perimeter of the Bay and then back to Forbes . Weather Bravo took the same route within the United States but traveled east over the Labrador Sea and north of Goose Bay , Canada , then back to Forbes . The data collected by these flights was used to develop War Plan meteorological collection predictions for weather around the Soviet Union . Samples of radioactive fallout from foreign nuclear tests could also be taken . The RB - 37Ks served with the 338th for eight years , being phased out in 1963 . The unit was reactivated in 1999 at Offut AFB , Nebraska as a Combat Training Squadron .