On 20 June 1942, the air echelon of the 54th PG (now FG) took its P-40s and newly assigned Bell P-39 Airacobras to Elmendorf Field, Alaska, where it served in combat against the Japanese forces that invaded the Aleutian Islands during the summer of 1942.[7] The unit did not in itself take any part in the action against the Japanese in the Aleutians, but a detachment of eleven of the pilots saw service with the 42d which was based at Adak Army Air Field, Alaska and between them got three confirmed victories and two probables.[citation needed] On 4 August 1942, the 57th was moved to Kodiak Adak AAF and there replaced the 42d. All its pilots were rotated to Adak to gain combat experience.[citation needed] Squadron pilots were credited with the destruction of three enemy aircraft while deployed to Alaska.[8]
The air echelon returned to the United States in December 1942 and rejoined the group, which had been assigned to Third Air Force in Louisiana, and became a replacement training unit (RTU) for North American P-51 Mustang pilots.[7] RTUs were oversized units training individual pilots or aircrews.[9] The unit's P-39s were to be flown to Duncan Field, Texas for depot-level overhaul.[citation needed] It was reequipped with the North American P-51A Mustang, thereby becoming the first P-51 unit in the AAF.[citation needed]
In early May 1943, the 54th Fighter Group began a split operation, with headquarters and the 56th and 57th Fighter Squadrons relocating to Bartow Army Air Field, Florida,[7][10][11] while the group's other squadron was at Hillsborough Army Air Field.[12] However, the Army Air Forces (AAF) was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[13] As a result, in 1944 the squadron was disbanded as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system.[7] The units at Bartow were replaced by the 340th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Fighter),[14]
The 57th was reactivated as a regular squadron at Presque Isle AFB, Maine, on 20 March 1953 under Air Defense Command and designated the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.[7] It was equipped with Northrop F-89C Scorpion interceptors, and assigned to the 528th Air Defense Group. It maintained a 24-hour alert at Presque Isle. The squadron was known as "Black Knights of Aroostook". While at Presque Isle, the unit was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations. The unit suffered several air crashes of F-89C aircraft resulting in loss of life. The unit later moved to Iceland.
The 57th FIS at Keflavik was an interceptor squadron charged with the monitoring of the Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom gap in the North Atlantic that formed a naval warfare choke point during the Cold War. The 57th would respond alerts from Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning stations established on Iceland; the GCI stations guiding its interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the radar scopes. Over 1,000 intercepts of Soviet aircraft took place inside Iceland's military air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
On 18 December 1955 MATS activated the 1400th Operations Group as the mission at Keflavik was expanded to accommodate Tactical Air Command (TAC) and Strategic Air Command transient aircraft. In 1959, a retrenchment of USAF operations began, including the reduction of F-89 interceptors and ADC and SAC (tenant) activities.
57th FIS TF-102A-45-CO (56-2367) at NAS Keflavik, in 1969.
Air Force activities at the airport were reorganized and IADF was redesignated Air Forces Iceland, which functioned at a Wing level on 1 July 1960. Shortly afterwards, the USAF transferred jurisdiction of Keflavik Airport to the United States Navy on 1 July 1961 which named it Naval Air Station Keflavik. The Air Force units at Keflavik operated in a tenant status with the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and two Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons on 1 July 1961. The USAF facilities remained designated Keflavik Airport.
In 1962 ADC replaced the squadron's F-89s with newer Convair F-102 Delta Dagger supersonic interceptors, the F-89s generally being worn-out after nearly a decade of continual interceptions. Challenges by the 57th FIS to Soviet aircraft on flights over the North Atlantic and along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States to bases in Cuba continued throughout the 1960s.
57th FIS F-4Es (66-0300, 66-0370) intercepting a Soviet Tu-95, in 1980.57th FIS F-4C-20-MC (63-7618), c. 1976.
The first McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aircraft was assigned to the squadron on 16 April 1973, as TAC was replacing its F-102 Delta Dagger with F-4C models at the end of the Vietnam War. By 30 June, the squadron had six F-4Cs and additional F-4s were received in the third quarter of 1974. The last of the F-102s were replaced in early 1975 when additional F-4Cs were received from TAC squadrons at Luke AFB and George AFB; the last F-4C arriving in March 1976.
In early 1978 preparations for the exchange of the F-4C for F-4Es were underway with the first two aircraft landing on 21 March. These aircraft were better equipped than the C models, with solid state radios and tactical navigation equipment, lead computing optical gunsight and ILS. Twelve aircraft arrived between April and July, and the last F-4Cs left on 14 June. On 1 August, one of the squadron's F-4Es[18] was taking off for a training mission to practice interceptions for the William Tell interceptor weapons meet as the number two ship in a formation. After a very long takeoff roll followed by difficulty in controlling pitch, the crew found the plane's outer wing panels were in the folded position. After the crew safely landed,[note 1] it was discovered that the wing fold locking lugs were retracted and as the Phantom's nose was lifted on takeoff, the outer wing panels had "gently lifted to their folded position and stayed there." The wing panels had apparently been unlocked when the plane was repainted from Tactical Air Command camouflage to ADC gray and had not been locked when the job was through,[19]
Four F-106 Delta Darts of the 87th FIS from K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI deployed to Keflavik in April 1978 to augment the 57th's alert capabilities during the "Black Knights" transition from F-4Cs to F-4Es. They occupied the open air flight line beside the alert shelters, and operated from this location for approximately a month, during which they made several successful intercepts against the Soviet "Bear" fleet.
ACC squadron patch
On 1 October 1979 TAC absorbed ADC's assets, and the F-4E Phantom II aircraft of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. In 1982 the construction of hardened aircraft shelters was planned on the west end of the airfield and this construction started in 1983. The shelters were of a Norwegian design, with the doors opening inwards and fitting into a recess in the foundation, thus making the floor for the aircraft to taxi over. Thirteen shelters were constructed.
In 1984 it was announced that the 57th FIS was programmed to receive the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Initially, it was believed that the squadron would get the F-15A model, as that was the version going into the ANG units at that time, and the 57th had never been equipped with the most modern front-line aircraft in the USAF. It therefore came as a surprise that July 1985, that modern F-15Cs and F-15Ds replaced the aging F-4s, and the tail code "IS" was assigned to Air Forces Iceland (AFI).
On 1 June 1992, Air Combat Command (ACC) assumed command and control of AFI and the 57th FIS. Air Forces Iceland was inactivated on 31 May 1993. Activated in its place, assuming the mission previously carried out by AFI, was the 35th Wing that was transferred from the closing George Air Force Base, California. The change was part of the Air Force's "objective wing" plan. On 1 October 1993, an ACC realignment transferred administrative control of the 35th Fighter Wing from First Air Force to Eighth Air Force. However, the 35th would go through another major change less than two years after it was activated at Keflavik.
Because the 35th garnered the majority of its history in the Pacific theater during World War II, and in California since 1971 until its move to Iceland, it was decided to relocate the unit back to that area. Consequently, the 35th Fighter Wing was relieved of its assignment to ACC and transferred to Misawa Air Base, Japan, on 1 October 1994. To assume the mission at Keflavik, the 85th Wing was activated on the same day.
The 85th Wing was a combination of the lineages and histories of the 85th Fighter-Bomber Group and the former Air Forces Iceland. This allowed the Air Force contingent in Iceland to keep alive its distinguished history in the foreign nation, while also retaining the history of a World War II flying unit.
Air Force reductions and a new agreement with the Government of Iceland continued to affect Keflavik organizations. On 1 March 1995, the 57th FS was inactivated and the interceptor force was replaced by Regular Air Force and Air National Guard F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft rotating every 90 days to Iceland until the USAF inactivated the 85th Group in 2002.
The 85th Group, formerly the Air Forces Iceland, is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with United States Air Forces in Europe at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, assigned as a unit of the 48th Fighter Wing whose home station is at RAF Lakenheath, UK. It was inactivated on 28 June 2006.
The 65th Aggressor Squadron is a United States Air Force unit currently operating the F-35A Lightning II. It is assigned to the 57th Operations Group at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) is a United States Navy air station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilities were taken over by the Icelandic Defence Agency as their primary base until 1 January 2011, when the Agency was abolished and the base handed over to the Icelandic Coast Guard, which operated the base until 2017. US forces returned to Keflavik in 2016, renovating parts of the base to accommodate P-8As on short duration/expeditionary detachments.
The 53rd Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The wing reports to the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, which in turn reports to Headquarters Air Combat Command.
The 78th Fighter Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 78th Fighter Wing, at Hamilton Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 1 February 1961.
The 433rd Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the USAF Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
The 84th Combat Sustainment Group is an inactive United States Air Force (USAF) group last assigned to the 84th Combat Sustainment Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, where it was inactivated in 2010. The group was formed in 1942 as the 84th Bombardment Group, one of the first dive bomber units in the United States Army Air Corps and tested the Vultee Vengeance, proving that aircraft unsuitable as a dive bomber. As an Operational Training Unit, it was the parent for several other bombardment groups, but from 1943 until it was disbanded in 1944, trained replacement aircrews as a Replacement Training Unit designated the 84th Fighter-Bomber Group.
The 473d Fighter Group is an inactive United States Air Force (USAF) unit. Its last assignment was with the 30th Air Division at K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1959.
The 54th Fighter Group is an active unit of the United States Air Force stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico and assigned to the 49th Wing of Air Education and Training Command. The group was reactivated in March 2014.
The 521st Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 31st Air Division at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa, where it was inactivated in 1955. The group was originally activated as the 521st Air Service Group, a support unit for the 310th Bombardment Group at the end of World War II in Italy and then redeployed to the United States where it was inactivated in 1945.
The 4707th Air Defense Wing is a discontinued United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 26th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC) at Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts where it was discontinued in 1956.
The 4700th Air Defense Group is a discontinued United States Air Force (USAF) organization. Its last assignment was with the 4709th Air Defense Wing at Stewart Air Force Base, New York. It was activated in 1950 as a support unit for USAF units at Stewart. In 1954, it assumed an operational mission and was assigned two interceptor squadrons. The group was discontinued on 18 August 1955 and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 329th Fighter Group as part of Project Arrow, an Air Defense Command project to air defense groups with fighter units with distinguished histories from World War I or World War II.
The 568th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command (ADC)'s 4709th Air Defense Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, where it was inactivated in 1954. The group was originally activated as the 568th Air Service Group, a support unit for a combat group at the end of World War II on Guam, but was soon inactivated.
The 4710th Air Defense Wing is a discontinued unit of the United States Air Force. It was last stationed at O'Hare International Airport, Illinois, where it was assigned to the 37th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC), and where it was discontinued in 1956. It was established in 1952 at New Castle AFB, Delaware as the 4710th Defense Wing in a general reorganization of Air Defense Command (ADC), which replaced wings responsible for a base with wings responsible for a geographical area. It assumed control of several fighter Interceptor squadrons that had been assigned to the 113th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, which was an Air National Guard wing mobilized for the Korean War.
The 525th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 4710th Air Defense Wing at New Castle County Airport, Delaware, where it was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The group was originally activated as the 525th Air Service Group, a support unit for a combat group at the end of World War II in Italy and then redeployed to Maine, where it supported redeploying units until it was inactivated in 1945.
The 4706th Air Defense Wing is a discontinued United States Air Force (USAF) organization. Its last assignment was with the 37th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC) at O'Hare International Airport (IAP), Illinois where it was discontinued in 1956. It was established in 1952 at O'Hare as the 4706th Defense Wing in a general reorganization of Air Defense Command (ADC), which replaced wings responsible for a base with wings responsible for a geographical area. It assumed control of several Fighter Interceptor squadrons that had been assigned to the 142d Fighter-Interceptor Wing, an Air National Guard wing mobilized for the Korean War and the 56th Fighter-Interceptor Group. In early 1953 it also was assigned six radar squadrons in the Midwest and its dispersed fighter squadrons combined with colocated air base squadrons into air defense groups. The wing was redesignated as an air defense wing in 1954. It was discontinued in 1956 and most of its units transferred to the 58th Air Division.
The 528th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 4711th Air Defense Wing at Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine, where it was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The group was originally activated as the 528th Air Service Group, a support unit for the 97th Bombardment Group at the end of World War II in Italy.
The 534th Air Defense Group is a disbanded United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the 4706th Air Defense Wing at Kinross Air Force Base, Michigan where it was inactivated in 1955. The group was originally activated as the 534th Air Service Group, a support unit for a combat group at the end of World War II in Italy and then redeployed to the United States where it was inactivated in 1945.
The United States Air Force's 66th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force Weapons School Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II instructional flying unit, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
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References
Notes
↑ Apparently two Navy Phantoms had been launched from carriers with folded outer panels, but both were lost. Asher, p. 83
Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol.VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN48003657.
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