397th Bombardment Squadron

397th Bombardment Squadron 7th Reconnaissance Squadron
LB-30 Liberator
Active	1917-1946; 2015–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Reconnaissance
Part of	Air Force Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Naval Air Station Sigonella
Engagements	American Antisubmarine Theater
Insignia
397th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 5 May 1924)

The 7th Reconnaissance Squadron is a squadron of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the 69th Reconnaissance Group and is stationed at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, Italy.

The squadron was first established in the Panama Canal Zone as the 7th Aero Squadron in 1917 and served as a reconnaissance unit until 1942, when it was redesignated as the 397th Bombardment Squadron. It served as a bomber unit through World War II and was inactivated at Rio Hato Army Air Base, Panama on 1 November 1946. The squadron was reactivated in 2015, returning to its earlier reconnaissance mission.

The squadron's mission from its inception in 1917 to its inactivation in 1946 was the defense of the Panama Canal. During the 1920s and 1930s it participated in a number of Goodwill Missions to nations in Central and South America. From its origins in 1917 until 1942, the unit was designated a variation of the 7th Reconnaissance Squadron.

With the entry of the United States into World War I, the War Department felt it was necessary to establish an air presence along the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Canal as a defensive measure against an enemy seaborne attack.

In advancing its plans for the defence of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, the joint Army-Navy board recommended the establishment of eight aeronautic stations which, with a strength of two dirigibles and six or eight seaplanes each, could immediately conduct patrol work. Significantly, the only site definitely advanced as vital in the overall plan was that at the Coco Solo United States Navy submarine base near Colón in the Canal Zone.

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Wikipedia