413th Flight Test Squadron The 413th Flight Test Squadron ( 413 FLTS ) is part of the 46th Test Wing and is based at Duke Field , Eglin Air Force Base , Florida . It performs flight testing on C - 130 Hercules , CV - 22 Osprey , MH - 53 Pave Low , UH - 1 Iroquois , and HH - 60 Pave Hawk aircraft . Overview . The squadron planned , provided for , and conducted tests of electronic warfare and avionics systems and equipment , on aircraft assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center between 1977 and 2004 . It has planned , executed and managed Development and Qualification Test and Evaluation of fixed - wing aircraft assigned to Air Force Special Operations Command and of all Air Force helicopters since 2005 . History . World War II . Initially established as a B - 17 Flying Fortress reconnaissance squadron in early 1942 , re - designated as a Heavy Bombardment squadron and activated in July . Trained under II Bomber Command in the northwestern United States , then moved to Texas for better flying weather in early 1943 . Deployed to England and assigned to VIII Bomber Command . Flew first combat mission over Occupied Europe on 14 May 1943 , Participated in the famous Regensburg shuttle mission to North Africa . Took part in the Big Week Schweinfurt mission of 14 October 1943 . In addition , the squadron attacked shipyards , harbours , railway yards , aerodromes , oil refineries , aircraft factories , and other industrial targets in Germany , France , the Netherlands , Belgium , Norway , Poland , Hungary , and Czechoslovakia . Participated in very long - range mission through heavy clouds and intense anti - aircraft fire to raid important aircraft component factories in Poland on 9 April 1944 . Other significant targets included airfields at Bordeaux and Augsburg ; marshalling yards at Kiel , Hamm , Brunswick , and Gdynia ; aircraft factories at Chemnitz , Hanover , and Diósgyőr ; oil refineries at Merseburg and Brux , and chemical works in Wiesbaden , Ludwigshafen , and Neunkirchen In addition to strategic operations , missions included bombing coastal defences , railway bridges , gun emplacements , and field batteries in the battle area prior to and during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 ; attacking enemy positions in support of the breakthrough at Saint - Lô in July 1944 ; aiding the campaign in France in August by striking roads and road junctions , and by dropping supplies to the Maquis ; and attacking , during the early months of 1945 , the communications supplying German armies on the western front . After V - E Day , flew food missions to the Netherlands and hauled redeployed personnel to French Morocco , Ireland , France , and Germany . In November 1945 its aircraft were flown back to the United States , and was inactivated on 19 December 1945 . Cold War . Was reactivated as an B - 29 Superfortress Air Force Reserve squadron in 1947 at Keesler Field ( later AFB ) , Mississippi . Unit may or may not have been equipped with aircraft , possibly was an administrative unit with no personnel assigned . Was inactivated on 27 June 1949 due to budget reductions . The squadron was activated in November 1958 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 . Flight testing . The 6513th Flight Test Squadron was activated at Edwards AFB , California on 1 December 1977 as part of the USAF Flight Test Center . Squadron was assigned to Edwards , operated from Tonopah Test Range Airport , Nevada performing clandestine mission of flight testing Foreign Military Equipment ( FME ) . In October 1992 at the end of the Cold War , the squadron ( known as the " Red Hats " ) was inactivated and was consolidated with the 413th Test Squadron that was reactivated . The Red Hats , however , possibly continued to conduct FME projects , apparently as an unnumbered squadron at an undisclosed location in Nevada . The 413th performed flight testing of electronic warfare ( ECM ) assets at Edwards . Inactivated in March 2004 as part of a consolidation and realignment of EW assets , remaining personnel and assets were transferred to Electronic Warfare Directorate North Base ( 412TW / EWAH ) . Reactivated at Hurlburt Field , Eglin AFB , Florida in February 2005 , providing flight testing of special operations aircraft and helicopters under the 46th Test Wing . Moved to Duke Field at Eglin in 2012 due to budget reductions .