On September 20, the squadron moved to Souilly, and at the same time it was transferred from the 4th Corps to the 3rd Corps, First Army. At Souilly, the 90th participated in the Argonne-Meuse offensive until the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.

Following the end of the war, a large number of the pilots and observers were returned to the United States. By January 1919, the unit had received an alert to return to America, and after its planes had been turned in to the First Air Depot, it moved from Colombey les Belles to the port of embarkation. On April 20, 1919, the squadron sailed for home aboard the USS General Goethals. After its arrival at Hoboken, New Jersey on 3 May, the unit moved to Garden City, New York. By July, the 90th had taken station at Kelly Field, Texas.

The dice have been part of the squadron's heritage since World War I. However, the pair of dice was officially adopted on February 24, 1924. Captain William G. Schauffler created the dice emblem while at Ourches, France. The squadron could not pick an emblem until then because it had to see at least three months of combat. Whatever the dice came up, they always equaled seven. Captain Schauffler thought this was appropriate because it symbolized the good fortune of the 90th Aero Squadron which lost very few casualties and only one aircraft. During World War I, Sopwith 1 and Sopwith Salmson 2. It also briefly included Spad XI and Breguet 14 during 1918-1919.

On September 15, 1939, it was redesignated as the 90th Bombardment Squadron (Light).

On October 9, 1940 orders were received to move the Squadron to Savannah, Georgia. On January 10, 1941 the Squadron received its first shipment of Douglas A-20A Havoc attack bombers and six months later they received a small number of A-24 dive bombers.

The 8th transitioned to the A-20 Havocs as the war clouds loomed over Europe and the Pacific. According to the Carl Pettypiece site on the A-20A, "The A-20A initially entered service with the USAAF in mid-1941, first being issued to the 3rd Bombardment Group (Light) based at Savannah, Georgia. A-20As were soon issued to the 27th Bombardment Group (Light). The engines of the A-20A were prone to overheating, and to alleviate this problem holes had to be cut around the periphery of the cowling just aft of the cylinder baffles. As soon as engine cooling problems had been corrected, the Army commented favorably on the qualities of the A-20A. The A-20A demonstrated its outstanding features during war games held at Shreveport, Louisiana during September of 1941. It had a performance comparable to that of many first-line fighter aircraft of the period."

The 90th would also fly the Douglas A-24 Dauntless. It was a ground-attack aircraft equipped with massive wing-mounted dive brakes to assist it in performing its role as a dive-bomber. Over 5,300 were built before production ended. The A-24 was tentatively named Banshee by the Army, but this name never seems to have really caught on. The A-24 was never very popular with its crews, and most of them were retained in the USA for training duties. After the 8th lost 5 aircraft on 29 Jul 1942, the A-24 was removed from combat. Following the New Guinea debacle, only one other squadron was to take the A-24 into combat. After the war, the Dauntless was quickly phased out of military service. (Go to Carl Pettypiece's site at A-24 for more information.)

World War II: Pacific Theater -- "The Dicemen on the Prowl"

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the unit was alerted for overseas duty. However, in January 1942, the unit found itself undermanned and lacking aircraft and equipment. Acting on secret orders the Squadron moved to California and shortly thereafter boarded the USS "Ancon" (along with the rest of the 3d Bombardment Group) on January 31, 1942 bound for Australia. They arrived in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on February 25, 1942. A few days later the Squadron moved to Charters Towers, Australia. A camp was set up in on 8 March 1942.

One must also remember that in the early months of 1942, the outlook for the U.S. forces in the Pacific was very bleak. The allies were being pushed back by the Japanese on all fronts -- and the Philippines was about to fall. A report of February 27, 1942 read, "SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA (SWPA, 5th Air Force): The Battle of Java Sea. Allied air and naval units try to stop a convoy of some 80 ships approaching Java from the NE. All available B-17's, A-24's, P-40's and LB-30's are put into the air but achieve only insignificant results. An Allied naval force, 5 cruisers and 11 destroyers, under Rear Admiral Karel W Doorman, Royal Netherlands Navy, meets the enemy near Surabaya, Java and is decisively defeated, losing 5 ships. Most of the 5th Air Force ground echelon in Java is evacuated by sea. The SS Sea Witch delivers 27 crated P-40's to Tjilatjap, Java, but these will be destroyed to prevent their falling into Japanese hands. 32 P-40's aboard the Seaplane Tender USS Langley (AV-3), which sailed from Australia for India on 23 Feb, are lost when the USS Langley is sunk by aircraft 100 mi (160 km) S of Tjilatjsp. The pilots are rescued by other vessels in the convoy, but the enemy sinks these ships with the exception of a destroyer, which delivers 2 of the pilots to Perth, Australia. 13th Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy), 43d Bombardment Group (Heavy), arrives at Melbourne, Australia from the US with B-17's; first mission is Oct 42." Things were not looking good. In April it looked even bleaker. Reports read, "Japanese capture Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands after 3 months. The US-Philippine forces surrender unconditionally. Japanese artillery emplaced on Bataan opens fire on Corregidor Island in conjunction with air attacks." It was into this bleak situation that the 90th Bombardment Squadron was thrown.

At that time, there was an acute shortage of combat aircraft of all types. Though they had transitioned to the A-20 Havoc in 1941, there was a severe shortage of A-20s in Australia and in the entire South Pacific due to the priority of Lend-Lease deliveries to the Soviet Union. They would not fly the A-20 aircraft until the 3rd Bombardment Wing was equipped with A-20Gs in 1943.

A-24B Dauntless

B-25 Mitchell Bomber

Soon, however, the addition of a few experienced flyers from the Philippines and the acquisition of several North American B-25C Mitchells strengthened the organization. Later the unit "requisitioned" 12 B-25C's from the Netherlands East Indies Air Force (NEIAF) at Archerfield, Australia. These aircraft were ordered by the Netherland East Indies but after the Dutch surrendered, these aircraft sat unused. The term "requisitioned" is used loosely -- in that the USAAF was faced with a collapsing front and needed aircraft immediately. It did not go through formal channels but simply "requisitioned" the aircraft -- with the promise that they would be replaced with aircraft from later shipments. According to the Carl Pettypiece site on the Dutch B-25, "However, the Archerfield B-25s were immediately "requisitioned" by the USAAF in the desperate attempt to halt the Japanese advance toward Port Moresby. It was agreed that the Dutch government would be credited accordingly, or else the planes would be replaced on a one-to-one basis by later deliveries. The next batch of B-25Cs were promised to the Dutch, but these too were seized by the USAAF. The first five B-25Cs delivered to this squadron had carried the NEIAF serial numbers N5-132, N5-134, N55-135, N5-136 and N5-151. In late June, another five (N5-122, N5-124, N5-125, N5-126, and N5-127) were delivered, apparently replacing the first five B-25Cs which had "disappeared" into USAAF service during the interim." The 90th BS would continue to fly the B-25s until 1944.

According to the Carl Pettypiece site on the B-25C, "The B-25C was the first version of the Mitchell to be mass-produced. ... The B-25C was outwardly almost identical to the B-25B. It introduced the R-2600-13 Double Cyclone engine with Holley 1685HA carburetors in place of the earlier Bendix Stromberg PD-13E-2 units. The Bendix carburetors were favored because of their easier maintenance, but they required more careful anti-icing procedures. De-icing and anti-icing systems were added, and a Stewart-Warner cabin heater was added in the left wing. A 24-volt electrical system was also added. The armament of the B-25C was the same as that of the B-25B, namely a single 0.30-inch machine gun in the nose, two 0.50-inch machine guns in the dorsal turret, and two 0.50-inch machine guns in a retractable ventral turret. The ventral turret was often removed in the field. The B-25C introduced a new type of tail skid underneath the extreme rear fuselage, a solid unit which replaced the spring-loaded tail skid of earlier versions. This type of tail skid was retained throughout the Mitchell production run. On the earlier B-25s, the exhaust pipe coming out of the back of the engines extended all the way to a position underneath the forward leading edge of the wing. On the B-25C, the exhaust pipes were considerably shortened, and terminated immediately behind the engines. The fuel was carried in four tanks in the inner wing panels, with a total capacity of 670 US gallons. In addition, a 515-gallon tank could be installed in the bomb bay for ferrying purposes, bringing total fuel capacity to 1255 US gallons."

The squadron then commenced operations in April 1942 with an attack on the Philippines. The aircraft assigned to that mission flew under cover of darkness to a secret base on the island of Mindanao. For the next two days they struck at the Cebu City and Davao areas and without loss to themselves caused much damage to enemy ships, harbors, and supply dumps. The planes returned to Australia on 13-14 April and, from the squadron's base at Charters Towers, flew reconnaissance along the coast and completed a strike against supply dumps at Lae, New Guinea.

During the summer of 1942, the squadron continued to bomb aerodromes and harbor installations and fly reconnaissance missions in New Guinea. The planes often returned with substantial damage from AAA, and only the maintainers' hard work and dedication kept the B-25's flying. The ground crews often worked 24 hours a day to keep the planes in operational condition, for the squadron's aircraft seldom returned without damage from enemy gunfire or flak. In late summer, the squadron took part in attacks against Buna, Gona, and Kokoda, dropped supplies to ground forces in New Guinea, and struck at Salamaua and Lae repeatedly.

After the tragic Buna Battle, the A-24s were removed from combat -- including the 90th BS. On 29 July an eight ship convoy was spotted 50 miles north of Buna. A flight of seven A-24's of the 8th BS took off for the attack. In the succeeding battle against overwhelming Zero odds and shattering anti-aircraft fire the Squadron suffered heavy losses. One ship returned to the base and another made an emergency landing. The other five failed to return; however, an 8,000 ton Japanese vessel was sunk and several damaged. According to the Carl Pettypiece site on the A-24, "After five of seven A-24s were lost on their last mission (July 29), the A-24s were withdrawn from action as being too slow, too short-ranged, and too poorly armed. However, in all fairness to the A-24, their pilots had not been trained in dive-bombing operations and they often had to operate without adequate fighter escort." Strangely, the squadron was redesignated on October 1, 1942 as the 90th Bombardment Squadron (Dive) though it no longer had the A-24 aircraft. It was flying the North American B-25 Mitchells exclusively.

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