72d Fighter Squadron

72d Tactical Fighter Squadron

Emblem of the File:72d Tactical Fighter Training Squadron
Active 1941-1992
Country United States
Branch United States Army Air Forces
Role Fighter
72d TFTS F-16B Block 10B Fighting Falcon 80-0623
72d TFS F-100D 55-3610 at Clark AB, 1958
72d Fighter Squadron P-51D Mustang, North Field, Iwo Jima, 1945.

The 72d Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 56th Operations Group, based at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. It was inactivated on 19 June 1992.

History

World War II

Established as a defensive interceptor squadron for Hawaii in late 1941. Suffered tremendous casualties and aircraft losses at Wheeler Field during the Pearl Harbor Attack. Re-equipped and used as Seventh Air Force training unit; also flew reconnaissance patrols over Hawaii until late 1943.

Deployed to Central Pacific as part of Seventh Air Force island hopping campaign against Japanese in late 1943. Flew combat missions from Makin Island using P-39 Airacobra fighters until April 1944, returning to Hawaii and being re-equipped and trained with long-range P-51 Mustangs. Re-deployed to Western Pacific, being stationed on Iwo Jima while battle for the island was still ongoing and engaged in long-range B-29 Superfortress escort missions over Japan; continuing that mission until the end of hostilities in August 1945. Reassigned to Mariana Islands, as a Far East Air Force fighter squadron, inactivated 1946.

Cold War

Reactivated as Tactical Air Command F-86 jet tactical fighter squadron, 1952 Deployed to France in 1954 as part of NATO; re-equipped with the F-100 Super Sabre 1957. Ordered out of France by host government as part of France's rejection of NATO's nuclear weapons policy. Reassigned to Philippines in 1958 for air defense of Luzon. Inactivated 1959 as a result of budget reductions. Equipment reassigned to 510th Tactical Fighter Squadron.

Pilot training

Reactivated 1 July 1982 at MacDill AFB, Florida as an F-16A/B Fighting Falcon Undergraduate Pilot Training Squadron, replacing the 13th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron when the 58th TFTS transitioned from F-4 Phantom IIs. Tail coded "MC", black tail stripe outlined in white. Upgraded to the Block 25 and 30 F-16C/D in March 1990 and became a Replacement Training Unit. Inactivated in 1992 as part of the BRAC realignment of MacDill AFB.

Lineage

Activated on 5 October 1941
Re-designated 72d Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942
Inactivated on 10 October 1946
Activated on 1 January 1953
Inactivated on 8 February 1958
Activated on 1 July 1958
Inactivated on 9 April 1959
Re-designated 72d Fighter Squadron on 1 November 1991
Inactivated on 19 June 1992

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

Emblems

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.