426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron

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426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron
China-Burma-India Theater

  • World War II Asiatic-Pacific Theatre
Insignia
426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron emblem
426th Night Fighter Squadron emblem (approved 8 June 1944)
Patch worn by 426th TFTS during the early 1980s

The 426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron is an inactive

405th Tactical Training Wing, being inactivated at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
, on 19 November 1990.

During World War II, the 426th Night Fighter Squadron was a night fighter squadron assigned to Tenth Air Force in India, and Fourteenth Air Force in China. It was reactivated in 1970 as a tactical fighter Replacement Training Unit (RTU) At Luke AFB.

History

World War II

The 426th Night Fighter Squadron was formed at

Bakersfield area. With its training as a unit completed, the members of 426th NFS packed their bags and left California's sunny San Joaquin Valley in mid-June 1944.[1]

Aircrews of the 426th Night Fighter Squadron at their first operational base at Chengtu, China, 1944. From Chengtu, their mission was to protect B-29 Superfortresses using Chinese Air Bases as staging bases from India on Operation Matterhorn Missions to Japan. After the B-29s moved to the Central Pacific, the Black Widows were used for night intruder and ground attack missions during daylight hours.

The squadron took a long route getting to India, traveling across the United States to

P-61 Black Widows arrived by ship in Calcutta.[1]

During this period, some of the ground echelon was sent to

Ondal, where Air Service Command modified them (one of the modifications being additional radio equipment).[1]

5 October marked the start of the 426th's combat deployment; four aircraft were sent to

B-29 Superfortresses based there. The 426th replaced the P-51B Mustangs of the 311th Fighter Group that had escorted the B-29s. However, as the 426th was several aircraft short of its full complement, the 311th transferred eight of its Mustangs to the squadron. By the end of October, the 426th was up-to-strength with P-61s at Chengtu. On 27 October, a detachment of the 426th initiated operations out of Kunming, China, where Fourteenth Air Force was headquartered.[1]

426th Night Fighter Squadron Northrop P-61A-10-NO Black Widow 42-5619

The Japanese were well aware of the P-61s effectiveness, however many bomber crews were aware that there were too few of them to cover the entire Chinese front. Another issue faced by the Americans was the fact that the terrain in China was very rugged and it caused permanent echoes on radar. This made picking out enemy aircraft very difficult, and because of this, the Japanese flew many of their aircraft low to the ground. It was impossible for the P-61s airborne radar to pick up the enemy aircraft without the help of ground-based interceptor radar, so in many areas, the freelance interceptions by the P-61s was almost impossible.[1]

Bomber escort missions continued until February 1945, when Japanese night fighter flying against the B-29s nearly ceased. More and more, the squadron flew night intruder missions. The 426th started staging out of Ankang, Liangshan, and Sian (now known as Xi'an), China, from which they attacked communication, motor transport and railway lines until the end of the war.[1]

With the war finally ending in August, in September 1945, the 426th returned to India, where some of the squadron left from Karachi (now part of Pakistan) and others from Calcutta, India for their return voyage home. The squadron was inactivated on 8 November 1945.[1]

Cold War

426th TFTS F-4C-16-MC Phantom F-4C 63-7426. Later converted to an GF-4C instructional airframe at Sheppard AFB, TX. Now an on pedestal there

In 1970, the 426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron was assigned to the

F-4C Phantom IIs in August 1971, with aircraft carrying a blue fin cap.[2]

In 1981 the squadron received

Tyndall AFB, Florida and to First Air Force as part of the realignment of air defense of the United States from the active-duty air force to the Air National Guard.[4]

Lineage

  • Constituted as: 426th Night Fighter Squadron on 8 December 1943
Activated on: 1 January 1944
Inactivated: 5 November 1945[5]
  • Re-designated: 426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron, 18 January 1970
Activated 18 January 1970 assuming the assets of the 4515th Combat Crew Training Squadron (Provisional)
Inactivated: 29 November 1990[4]

Assignments

IV Fighter Command, 1 January 1944
481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group, 7 February 1944 – 18 June 1944
Attached to
312th Fighter Wing, February–5 November 1945[5]

Stations

Aircraft flown

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 426th Night Fighter Squadron.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Northrop P-61 Black Widow—The Complete History and Combat Record, Garry R. Pape, John M. Campbell and Donna Campbell, Motorbooks International, 1991.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-88740-513-4
    .
  3. ISBN 0764310607
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-85780-197-0
    .
  5. ^
    OCLC 72556
    .

External links

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