The 33rd Flying Training Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron based at Vance Air Force Base near Enid, Oklahoma. It is a part of the 71st Flying Training Wing. The squadron was established as a medium bomber unit on Bolos, Marauders, and later B-25 Mitchells. It became a heavy bomber squadron in February 1944, and was later equipped with B-29s and B-47s before being inactivated in 1963. Just under thirty years later, it was reactivated as a flying training squadron. History World War II Established as a GHQ Air Force medium bomber squadron in 1940 as a result of the buildup of the Army Air Corps after the breakout of World War II in Europe. It trained with a mix of Douglas B-18 Bolos and Martin B-26 Marauders. After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the squadron was transferred to the West Coast, flying anti-submarine patrols from Muroc Army Air Field, California from December 1941 to the end of January 1942. It was then assigned to the new Fifth Air Force, originally based on the Philippines, leaving the B-18s at Muroc. By the time the squadron arrived in the theater the situation on the Philippines was desperate, and the squadron was based in Australia. From there it attacked Japanese targets on New Guinea and New Britain. In October 1943 the B-26 Marauders were joined by North American B-25 Mitchells, and for the rest of the year the group continued to operate in support of Allied troops on New Guinea. In February 1944 the unit was redesignated as a heavy bomber squadron, and was assigned long range Consolidated B-24 Liberators, built by Ford and optimized for long range bombing missions in the Pacific. With its new heavy bombers the group attacked targets on Borneo, Ceram and Halmahera, among them the crucial oil fields of the Netherlands East Indies. In September 1944 the squadron moved its attention to the Philippines, attacking targets on Leyte. It moved onto Leyte on 15 November 1944. From then until August 1945 it flew against targets on Luzon, as well as supporting the campaign on Borneo and even ranging out as far as China. Finally, on 15 August 1945 the unit moved to Okinawa, from where it flew a number of armed reconnaissance missions over southern Japan to make sure the surrender terms were being obeyed. Most of the squadron's personnel were demobilized after the war; the