138th Attack Squadron

The 138th Attack Squadron is a unit of the New York Air National Guard's 174th Attack Wing located at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York. The 138th is equipped with the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft.

The squadron was first activated in 1942 as the 484th Bombardment Squadron, a dive bomber unit. After converting to fighter aircraft as the 505th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. The squadron deployed to the European Theater of Operations, where it participated in combat, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation and destroying 55 enemy aircraft in air to air combat. Following V-E Day, it returned to the United States, where it was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation in October 1945.

In 1946, it was allotted to the National Guard and in 1947 was activated in the New York National Guard as the 138th Fighter Squadron. In 1950, it became one of the first Air National Guard squadrons to be equipped with et fighters, but with the onset of the Korean War its jets were transferred to the active duty Air Force and it reverted to propeller driven fighters. It returned to flying jets in 1954 and maintained an air defense mission until 1958, when it became a tactical fighter unit. During the 1961 Berlin Crisis, the squadron was called into federal service and deployed to France to reinforce NATO.

The squadron was called to active duty a second time in 1968. It moved to Cannon Air Force Base, where it served as a training unit until returning to state control at the end of the year. It continued to fly fighters, deploying aircraft and aircrew to the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm. In 2012, the squadron converted to unmanned aerial vehicle operations as the '138th Attack Squadron