24th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron The 24th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron is a provisional unit of the United States Air Force . It is assigned to United States Air Forces Europe to activate or inactivate as needed . Its last known attachment was to the 100th Air Refueling Wing , stationed at RAF Mildenhall , Nebraska in 2007 . History . B - 29 Superfortress operations against Japan . Constituted in spring 1944 as a B - 29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment squadron . When training was completed moved to North Field Tinianin the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Area in January 1945 and assigned to XXI Bomber Command , Twentieth Air Force . It ' s mission was the strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands and the destruction of its war - making capability . Flew " shakedown " missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island , Truk , and other points in the Carolines and Marianas . The squadron began combat missions over Japan on 25 February 1945 with a firebombing mission over Northeast Tokyo . The squadron continued to participate in wide area firebombing attack , but the first ten day blitz resulting in the Army Air Forces running out of incendiary bombs . Until then the squadron flew conventional strategic bombing missions using high explosive bombs . The squadron continued attacking urban areas with incendiary raids until the end of the war in August 1945 , attacking major Japanese cities , causing massive destruction of urbanized areas . Also conducted raids against strategic objectives , bombing aircraft factories , chemical plants , oil refineries , and other targets in Japan . The squadron flew its last combat missions on 14 August when hostilities ended . Afterwards , its B 29s carried relief supplies to Allied prisoner of war camps in Japan and Manchuria . Squadron remained in Western Pacific , assigned to Twentieth Air Force on Okinawa . Maintained as a strategic bombardment squadron until inactivated due to budget reductions in late 1948 . Some aircraft scrapped on Tinian ; others flown to storage depots in the United States . Strategic Air Command . Reactivated in 1951 and redesigned as a heavy bomb squadron , the unit was initially issued with B - 29s for training . It was equipped with B - 36 Peacemaker intercontinental strategic bombers in 1953 for operational use . It began with B - 36Fs ; the featherweight B - 36J was added , the squadron operating both types . These aircraft carried a yellow stripe on the tip of the vertical stabilizer , the lip of the jet intakes and the " nose cone " of the jet itself along with an ' R ' inside a triangle as a tail code . SAC ( Strategic Air Command ) , eliminated tail codes in 1953 . In 1957 the B - 36s were replaced by B - 52E Stratofortress es and all squadron markings were eliminated . The squadron remained equipped with the B - 52s until the closure of Walker AFB in 1967 . It was re - equipped with RC - 135 Cobra Ball / Cobra Eye aircraft to support theater and national level intelligence consumers with near real - time on - scene collection , analysis and dissemination capabilities . The squadron was inactivated as part of the post Cold War drawdown in 1994 and replaced by the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron . Lineage . 24th Bombardment Squadron 24th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron