The 172nd Attack Squadron (172 ATKS) is a unit of the Michigan Air National Guard 110th Wing located at Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, Battle Creek, Michigan. The 172nd is equipped with the MQ-9 Reaper drone. The squadron was first organized during World War II as the 375th Fighter Squadron. It saw combat in the European Theater of Operations as an element of VII Fighter Command before returning to the United States, where it was inactivated. In May 1946, the squadron was allotted to the National Guard as the 172nd Fighter Squadron. During the Korean War, the squadron was called into federal service and acted in an air defense role until being returned to the Michigan Air National Guard in 1952. It had various flying missions, including fighter, reconnaissance and airlift until 2013, when it was converted to a support unit. History World War II The squadron was first activated at Richmond Army Air Base as the 375th Fighter Squadron and equipped with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. The squadron trained under I Fighter Command in the mid-Atlantic states. It also flew air defense missions as part of the Philadelphia Fighter Wing. The squadron deployed to the European Theater of Operations, where it became part of VIII Fighter Command in England during November 1943. The unit served primarily as an escort organization, covering the penetration, attack, and withdrawal of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber formations that Eighth Air Force sent against targets on the European continent. The squadron also engaged in counter-air patrols, fighter sweeps, and strafing and dive bombing missions. It attacked such targets as airfields, marshalling yards, V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket launch sites, industrial areas, ordnance depots, oil refineries, trains, and highways. During its operations, the unit participated in the assault against the Luftwaffe and the German aircraft industry during Big Week, from 20 to 25 February 1944, and the attack on transportation facilities prior to Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion. Following the invasion it supported ground forces thereafter, including providing cover during Operation Cobra, the Saint-Lô breakout in July. The squadron supported the airborne attack on the Netherlands in September 1944, and deployed to Chievres Airdrome, Belgium between February and April 1945, flying tactical ground support missions during the airborne assault across the Rhine. The unit returned to RAF Little Walden and flew its last combat mission on 20 April 1945. The