Bombing Squadron 7 was commissioned on 3 January 1944 at NAS Wildwood and began training on the SB2C-1C. In March it joined the rest of Air Group 7 at Quonset Point and became one of the first units to receive the SB2C-3. May brought a further move, this time to Norfolk, where the air group was assigned to the new carrier Hancock. The ship's shakedown cruise, to the Gulf of Paria, lasted from mid-June to early July, after which she sailed via the Panama Canal and San Diego to Pearl Harbor, arriving there at the end of August. Air Group 7 went ashore to NAS Kaneohe for three weeks. In late September Hancock set sail once more and on 5 October joined Task Force 38 at Ulithi.
VB7's first period of combat lasted from 10 October to 6 November and involved strikes against Okinawa, Formosa and the Philippines. On 25 and 26 October the squadron participated in the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea (Battle for Leyte Gulf). Further strikes in November and December were directed against airfields on Luzon, and shipping in Manila Bay. In early December twenty one pilots converted from the SB2C to the F6F, and for the rest of the Hancock cruise the squadron operated a mix of the two types.
Hancock left Ulithi again on 30 December and after hitting Formosa and Luzon entered the South China Sea on 12 January 1945. Targets there included shipping off Indo-China and the harbor at Hong Kong. The final strikes of the cruise were flown against Okinawa on 22 January, following which Hancock returned to Ulithi where, on the 26th, Air Group 7 was relieved by Air Group 80
The squadron reformed at NAS Klamath Falls on 27 March, flying the SB2C-4E, and in April transferred to NAS Astoria where training continued until December. That month saw a final move to San Diego and conversion to the SB2C-5. Short training cruises, again aboard Hancock, were made in February and March 1946. A short period of inactivity followed before the squadron was decommissioned on 8 June.
C.O.s:
LtCdr J.L. Erickson to 15 December 1944 (killed)
LtCdr D.C. Caldwell to 28 January 1945 (transfer VBF7)
Lt R.A. Rhodes from 28 January to ?
LtCdr E.J. Drozdz 30 March 1945 to 24 April 1946
LtCdr E.M. Padget to 8 June 1946
PERSONNEL LOSSES
| 6 January 1944 | Lt.(jg) D.A. Doyle |
| 5 February 1944 | Ens. E.H. Rosenau/ARM3c J.H. Bauer |
| 7 May 1944 | Lt.(jg) D.B. Chin Bing |
| 5 August 1944 | Ens. L.R. McGee/ARM3c R.V. Pencek |
| 4 October 1944 | ARM3c F.P. Bergeron (pilot,Ens. C.N. Campbell, rescued) |
| 10 October 1944 | Lt. J.L. McCallen/ARM3c J.T. Duncan (C---AA Okinawa) |
| 13 October 1944 | Lt.(jg) E.A. Bevis (C---AA Formosa; rsm, ARM3c G.G. Johnson, POW) |
| 25 October 1944 | ARM3c B.H. Frappier (pilot, Ens. J.W. Edmonds, rescued) |
| 25 October 1944 | Lt.(jg) C.A. Robertson (C---AA Jap. Fleet; rsm, ARM3c G. Tropp, rescued) |
| 25 October 1944 | Lt.(jg) B.E. Sampsell/ARM3c G.E. Lambeth (C---AA Jap. Fleet?) |
| 25 October 1944 | ARM2c H. Mugrauer (C---AA Jap. Fleet; pilot, Lt.(jg) R.A. Kinsella, rescued) |
| 29 October 1944 | Lt. J.H. Bell/ARM3c L. Glisencamp (C---AA Manila Bay) |
| 16 January 1945 | Lt.(jg) C.S. Snead (C---AA Hong Kong; rsm, ARM3c A.W. Hughes, POW) |
| 16 January 1945 | Lt.(jg) R.A. Kinsella (C---AA Hong Kong) F6F |
| 16 January 1945 | Ens. N.O. Maxwell (C---AA Hong Kong) F6F |
| 16 January 1945 | Lt. D.S. Kalus (C---AA Hong Kong) F6F |
| 31 August 1945 | Ens. W.W. Wilson/ARM3c P. M. Cutler |
| 26 February 1946 | Lt.(jg) J.S. Long |