138th Attack Squadron
military unit
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.
The public source identifies “138th Attack Squadron” as military unit. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around 138th, Attack and Squadron.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “138th Attack Squadron”, the useful work is to connect “military unit” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4549271. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1945, 1946 and 1947.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “138th Attack Squadron”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 138th Attack Squadron primary sources, 138th Attack Squadron archive and 138th research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “138th Attack Squadron”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “138th Attack Squadron” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.