Established as at B-24 Liberator heavy bomber replacement training unit. Converted in September 1943 for operational training; assigned to Second Air Force for training. Deployed to Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) in December 1943, squadron taking the South Atlantic Transport Route though the Caribbean and South America; transiting the Atlantic Ocean via Brazil and Dakar, French West Africa, being assigned to Fifteenth Air Force in January 1944 at Grottaglie Airfield in Southern Italy.