394th Combat Training Squadron

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394th Combat Training Squadron

The 394th Combat Training Squadron (CTTS) was a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 509th Operations Group at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Its mission was to train Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit aircrews and Northrop T-38 Talon pilots, oversee B-2 and T-38 formal training courses, and manage aircrew training devices and maintenance QA. The squadron was inactivated on 13 April 2018, with its mission transferred to the 13th Bomb Squadron.

The squadron’s history stretches back to 5 May 1917 when it began as the 4th Aero Squadron, making it the fourth oldest squadron in the Air Force. It started at Dodd Field, Texas, then moved to Kelly Field and Post Field (Fort Sill) for observer training during World War I, flying aircraft such as the Curtiss R-4 and JN-series. After demobilization in 1919, it reactivated at Hazelhurst Field, New York, and in 1920 moved to Hawaii, where it underwent several name changes and helped build Wheeler Field. In the interwar years and into World War II, the unit served as a reconnaissance and bombardment squadron, flying aircraft including the B-18 and B-17, and later the LB-30. It fought across the Pacific—from the Solomons to the Philippines—and earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for actions at Woleai in 1944. The squadron was inactivated in 1946 at Clark Field, Philippines.

In 1996, the Air Force redesignated the unit as the 394th Combat Training Squadron and activated it at Whiteman AFB as part of the 509th Operations Group. It trained B-2 and T-38 crews to support worldwide missions and managed related training programs and devices. The squadron participated in Operations Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999 and supported the early long-duration missions of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001, including the Spirit of America missions, which lasting 73.3 hours—the longest combat sortie at the time. In 2018, the squadron’s mission was transferred to the 13th Bomb Squadron.