9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron The 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force organization . Its last assignment was with the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing , being stationed at Shaw Air Force Base , South Carolina . It was inactivated on 1 September 1969 . History . 761st Bombardment Squadron . Activated as the 761st Bombardment Squadron ( Heavy ) in mid - 1943 ; assigned to II Bomber Command for training with B - 24 Liberator s . Primarily trained in New Mexico and Utah . Received deployment orders for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations ( MTO ) in August 1943 . Moved to Georgia and Virginia where the squadron flew coastal patrol missions over the Southeast , October 1943 - January 1944 while station in Italy was being constructed . Deployed to Southern Italy in January 1944 ; entered combat in January 1944 , being assigned to Fifteenth Air Force 55th Bombardment Wing . Engaged in very long range strategic bombing missions to enemy military , industrial and transportation targets in Italy , France , Germany , Austria , Hungary , Romania , and Yugoslavia , bombing railroad marshalling yards , oil refineries , airdrome installations , heavy industry , and other strategic objectives . The squadron flew its last World War II combat mission on 26 April 1945 . After V - E Day , was assigned to Green Project which was the movement of troops from Europe to the United States via the South Atlantic Transport Route . B - 24s were modified with sealed bomb bays , removal of all defensive armament and internal fuselage equipped with seating to carry approximately 30 personnel . Was assigned to Air Transport Command at Waller Field , Trinidad and to Natal , Brazil . Moved personnel from sDakar in French West Africa where personnel were transported across the South Atlantic to Brazil and eventually to Morrison Field , Florida via Trinidad . Provided air transport until the end of September when the unit was inactivated . 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron . Reactivated by the Twentieth Air Force 314th Composite Wing in April 1946 as the 9th Reconnaissance Squadron ( Very Long Range , Photographic ) assigned to Johnson Air Base , Japan . In Japan , the squadron flew various reconnaissance light and heavy bomber aircraft performing mapping missions over Occupied Japan ; Korea ; Okinawa ; Indochina ; China and other ares under Far East Air Force control after World War II . Also included classified missions over the Soviet Far East . Inactivated in October 1947 . Reactivated in July 1953 by Tactical Air Command as the 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron ( Electronics and Weather ) squadron at Shaw AFB , South Carolina . Equipped with RB - 26 Invader light bombers equipped for night reconnaissance missions . Upgraded to the jet RB - 66C Destroyer aircraft in 1956 ; added WB - 66 Destroyer weather and air sampling reconnaissance aircraft in 1957 . Flew reconnaissance missions as well as functioning as a B - 66 Training squadron until inactivated in 1969 due to budget reductions and consolidation of the B - 66 force , which was mostly deployed in Southeast Asia engaged in combat operations during the Vietnam War .