347th Fighter Squadron

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347th Fighter Squadron

347th Fighter Squadron - Emblem.png

Emblem of the 347th Fighter Squadron
Active 1942-1945
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Type Fighter Squadron
Nickname(s) Screaming Red Asses
Decorations Distinguished Unit Citation

The 347th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 350th Fighter Group stationed at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina. It was inactivated on 7 November 1945.

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

350th Fighter Group

The 350th Fighter Group was an air combat unit of the United States Army Air Force formed in 1942 and inactivated in 1945. The fighter group consisted of 345th, 346th and 347th Fighter Squadron. The group was formed in England in 1942 flying Bell P-39 Airacobras and participated in the Mediterranean and North African Campaigns of World War II. 350th Fighter Group was based in North Africa, in Algeria and Morocco from January to July 1943. They then moved on to the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica in November 1943 and February 1944 and were based in Italy in from September 1944 to July 1945. After the group was inactivated on 7 November 1945 at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base following the end of the war. It was redesignated the 112th Fighter Group and placed under the control of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard in 1946.\

North Carolina State of the United States of America

North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th-most extensive and the 9th-most populous of the U.S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties. The capital is Raleigh, which along with Durham and Chapel Hill is home to the largest research park in the United States. The most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York City.

Contents

History

Activated on 1 October 1942 at RAF Duxford, England by special authority of the USAAF by Eighth Air Force. Assigned to VIII Fighter Command, equipped with a mixture of United States personnel reassigned from the 31st and 52d Fighter Groups, and Americans transferred from the Royal Air Force who had volunteered to join the RAF prior to the United States entry into the European War, 11 December 1941.

Eighth Air Force Numbered air force of the United States Air Force responsible for strategic bomber forces

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft.

VIII Fighter Command United States Army Air Forces unit of command

The VIII Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces unit of command above the Wings and below the numbered air force. Its primary mission was command and control of fighter operations within the Eighth Air Force. In the World War II European Theater, its primary mission was air superiority. Its last assignment was with the United States Air Forces in Europe, being stationed at RAF Honington,

Royal Air Force Aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.

Squadron was initially equipped with export/Lend-Lease version of P-39D Airacobra, designated Airacobra I by the RAF with additional aircraft that had been sold to France that been impounded by the British after the Fall of France. These aircraft were re-designated as P-400. Deployed to French Morocco and assigned to Twelfth Air Force where the unit engaged in combat during the North African campaign. Briefly equipped with P-38 Lightnings from June to Sept 1943 each Squadron was assigned two P-38s to intercept and destroy high flying Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft sent to photograph the allied invasion fleet gathering along the North African coast for the invasion of Sicily.

Twelfth Air Force United States Air Force numbered air force

The Twelfth Air Force is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.

Re-equipped with P-47D Thunderbolts, January 1944 and engaged in combat during Italian Campaign. Also covered Allied landings on Elba in June 1944 and supported the invasion of southern France in August. Returned to Italy and fought in Po Valley, 1944-1945 until the end of the European War in May 1945.

Operation Dragoon Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944

Operation Dragoon was the code name for the Allied invasion of the French Riviera. Originally planned to coincide with D-Day, it had been postponed due to insufficient landing-craft. In August, it was revived, as the zone had become a low priority for the Germans, and conditions looked favourable for the liberation of Southern France with its key ports of Marseille and Toulon.

Demobilized and inactivated, 7 November 1945. Unit designation allocated to Pennsylvania Air National Guard, re-designated as 148th Fighter Squadron, 24 May 1946.

Pennsylvania Air National Guard

The Pennsylvania Air National Guard is the air force militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America. It is, along with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, an element of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

148th Fighter Squadron

The 148th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Arizona Air National Guard 162d Fighter Wing located at Tucson Air National Guard Base, Arizona. The 148th is equipped with the Block 20 F-16A/B Fighting Falcon.

Lineage

Inactivated on 7 November 1945

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

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References

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