Description

4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron RQ-4 Model

Command this RQ-4 Global Hawkmodel in this handcrafted piece. Each model is carved from wood and handpainted to provide a piece you’ll love. Wingspan – 18 inches.

The 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 455th Expeditionary Operations Group, based at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. It was inactivated on 1 October 2014.

The squadron was first activated as the 4th Observation Squadron in Puerto Rico in 1941. During World War II it served from island bases in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It remained active after the war as the 4th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, becoming one of the first jet equipped reconnaissance squadrons in the Air Force before being inactivated in 1949’s military budget reductions. It was active again from 1966 to 1971, primarily training crews for the Vietnam War, before its current role as an expeditionary unit, which began in 2005.

History
Caribbean operations
World War II

The squadron was first activated in April 1941 as the 4th Observation Squadron. Initially planned to serve as the main observation unit for the 13th Composite Wing, the unit in fact led something of a nomadic existence, being successively attached or assigned to the Puerto Rican Department, the 72d Observation Group, to the Antilles Air Task Force from 23 March 1943 until 1 June 1943, and finally to the Antilles Air Command itself from 1 June 1943 until the end of the war. In fact, this squadron was the only squadron to both start and finish the war in the Antilles throughout.

The squadron was initially stationed at Ponce Air Base, Puerto Rico when activated. The unit itself had been formed from cadre drawn from Air Corps units already in Puerto Rico. By 5 June 1943, the squadron strength had increased to 12 aircraft. By the end of the month, one of the Curtiss O-52 Owls had been sent on detached service to Haiti, apparently in connection with the attempt that poor nation was making to establishing a coastal patrol of its territorial waters at the time. In early July 1943, the squadron received the first three of a number of Bell P-39Q Airacobra fighters that it was to operate until the end of the war.

On 27 October 1943, the squadron moved en masse to Borinquen Field, as Losey Field was turned over to the Army Ground Forces due to its rather poorly situated runways. At this time, and since the Squadron’s assignment to Antilles Air Command on 1 June, the unit became one of the primary tactical operating units in the area. Fortunately, the command recognized the new importance of the unit, and lobbied for equipment more capable than previously assigned.

The following month, reflecting the changing war situation, the squadron received a North American B-25D Mitchell and four new B-25Gs, and in February 1943 added three more P-39Qs (for a total of nine), three new P-39Ns, and Douglas B-18 Bolos.