The 562d was first activated on 24 December 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho, on 24 December 1942, and moved to Wendover Field, Utah, on 5 February 1943, where it began training in B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft. The squadron participated in approximately 300 combat missions in the European Theater of Operations from 17 July 1943 until its last World War II mission, flown to the Landsberg Aerodrome near Munich, on 21 April 1945. During the summer of 1945, the 562d airlifted food to starving people of the Netherlands.