338th Combat Training Squadron

338th Combat Training Squadron
Emblem of the 338th Combat Training Squadron
Active	12 September 1942 - 20 August 1946 15 March 1947 - 13 October 1949 1 November 1950 - 15 June 1963 25 March 1967 - 25 December 1967 20 September 1999 – present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Training
Part of	Air Combat Command 12th Air Force 55th Wing 55th Operations Group
Garrison/HQ	Offutt Air Force Base

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.

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.

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 the Netherlands 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.