The 20th Attack Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. It currently flies the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper and is assigned to the 432d Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada.
It was originally activated as the 20th Transport Squadron in 1940 and served as a troop carrier unit in Panama during and after World War II, until it was inactivated in 1949.
Activated in 1965 as the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron, it served notably for seven and a half years of combat duty during the Vietnam War, and was inactivated in 1973. While in inactive status, the two squadrons were consolidated into a single unit. The 20th TASS was reactivated at Shaw Air Force Base in 1990, and again inactivated on 31 December 1991.
The unit was redesignated as the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron and its reactivation at Whiteman took place on 14 January 2011. In May 2016, it was redesignated the 20th Attack Squadron
History
World War II
The 20th Transport Squadron was activated at France Field, Panama Canal Zone, on 15 December 1940, but had only one officer and no airplanes until February 1941. The squadron became operational by March 1941 when the Squadron obtained its first aircraft from France Field's 16th Air Base Squadron, a Douglas C-33. With this solitary aircraft, the Squadron undertook daily flights to Albrook Field and, from there, on to Rio Hato Field and return. By May, the squadron began flying international flights, starting with one to Managua, Nicaragua.
Flying with two or three airplanes, the Squadron began the first of a series of cross-country flights to Trinidad in the British West Indies (some 1,200 air miles east of the Canal Zone) on 2 June 1941 to support the construction of the outer defense ring of air bases in the Caribbean after the United States obtained basing rights as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the British.
By the time of the Pearl Harbor Attack on 7 December 1941, the unit had received six Douglas C-49s (impressed commercial DC-3s) from the United States. On 22 November 1941, six of the C-49s were detached to Howard Field in the Canal Zone as part of what came to be known as Flight "B" (Reinforced) of the squadron to work with the Army 501st Parachute Battalion and the 550th Airborne Infantry, which were training to act as a rapid deployment force in the Panama Canal defense scheme.
The squadron became the 20th Troop Carrier Squadron in July 1942 and flew many different types of aircraft, several being one of a kind. The Squadron moved from France Field to Howard Field on 19 February 1942. Some aircraft were detached to Waller Field, Trinidad (Flight "A") and Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico (Flight "C"). Flight "A" left the squadron entirely on 22 December 1941 when it was detached to the 92d Air Base Group at Waller Field, Trinidad. The C-47s were followed on 19 June by two Consolidated OA-10 Catalina amphibians (which flew rescue missions in both the Pacific and Caribbean) and a locally procured Stinson C-91. It also flew a single Junkers C-79 trimotor, which was given USAAF serial 42-52883, and a Hamilton UC-89, a former Panamanian registered single-engine plane. These local acquisitions were a measure of the near-desperate need for transport aircraft being felt by the squadron and Sixth Air Force at the time. In March 1943, a pilot was dispatched to Santiago, Chile, to fly an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 tri-motor (lately of the Italian airline LATI) back to the Canal Zone.
By early 1943, the unit had 30 officers and 234 enlisted. In January 1943, all of the 0A-10's were transferred to other units and the C-79, C-89 and C-91 were all occasionally grounded for extended periods as the ground crews attempted to deal with these non-standard aircraft. By June 1943, all had been reassigned out of the squadron. One replacement aircraft received by the squadron was the huge Boeing XC-105, which was converted from bomber to heavy transport configuration to meet Sixth Air Force's peculiar requirements for long frequent over-water resupply flights to Seymour Field in the Galapagos Islands. But the unit also got the first two Fairchild UC-61 Forwarders, a new Douglas C-47A and conducted long-distance flights with cargo and personnel to resupply and evacuation of the small radar sites spotted around the periphery of the Canal.