17th Photo Recon Squadron, 4th Group. Stenciled on leather.
The unit operated P-38/F-4 Lightning photo-reconnaissance aircraft in the Pacific Theater of World War II over a wide area. The group, based successively on New Caledonia, Espiritu Santo, Guadalcanal, and Morotai, flew reconnaissance missions over enemy territory to supply air force units with target and damage- assessment photographs and to provide army and navy units with intelligence on Japanese troop concentrations, installations, shore defenses, supply routes, and shipping. It also produced maps of Allied and enemy-held territory and prepared navigation charts for US units.
