93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

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93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron - North American F-86D-35-NA Sabre - 51-6221.jpg

Active 1942–1945; 1946–1960
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
BranchFlag of the United States Air Force.svg  United States Air Force
Role Fighter-Interceptor
Engagements Mediterranean Theater of Operations
China-Burma-India Theater
Insignia
93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron emblem (approved 6 August 1958) [1] 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron - Emblem.jpg
93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron - North American F-86Fs at Kirtland AFB in 1950 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron - North American F-86Fs - 81st FIG.jpg
93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron - North American F-86Fs at Kirtland AFB in 1950
A 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 4 F-86A overflight of Kirtland AFB, New Mexico in 1951. Identified Aircraft are: 48-239, 48-224, 48-263 and 49-1061 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 4 F-86A overflight Kirtland AFB NM.jpg
A 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 4 F-86A overflight of Kirtland AFB, New Mexico in 1951. Identified Aircraft are: 48-239, 48-224, 48-263 and 49-1061
Note: For the current USAF unit, see 93d Fighter Squadron

The 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Albuquerque Air Defense Sector, stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. It was inactivated on 8 July 1960.

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.

Albuquerque Air Defense Sector

The Albuquerque Air Defense Sector (AADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was briefly active between 1 January and 1 November 1960, assigned to the 33d Air Division at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The sector was responsible for the air defense of New Mexico and most of Texas, and was inactivated as a result of a shift towards ballistic missile defense.

Kirtland Air Force Base United States Air Force base at Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico, USA

Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator Col. Roy C. Kirtland. The military and the international airport share the same runways, making ABQ a joint civil-military airport.

Contents

History

World War II

The squadron was activated in early 1942 [1] under III Fighter Command in North Carolina. It trained initially with Bell P-39 Airacobras, it was then re-equipped with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. [1]

The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946.

Bell P-39 Airacobra aircraft

The Bell P-39 Airacobra was one of the principal American fighter aircraft in service when the United States entered World War II. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force, and enabled individual Soviet pilots to collect the highest number of kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type flown by any pilot in any conflict. Other major users of the type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, the United States Army Air Forces, and the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning airplane

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is a World War II–era American piston-engined fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Allied propaganda claimed it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese. The P-38 was used for interception, dive bombing, level bombing, ground attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance, radar and visual pathfinding for bombers and evacuation missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings.

Moved overseas between October 1942 and February 1943, [1] the ground echelon established itself in French Morocco with the force that invaded North Africa on 8 November. The air echelon, which had trained for a time in England, arrived in North Africa between late December 1942 and early February 1943.

The unit began combat with the Twelfth Air Force in January 1943, supporting ground operations during the Allied drive against Axis forces in Tunisia. It patrolled the coast of North Africa and protected Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea between April and July 1943. It also provided cover for the convoys that landed troops on Pantelleria island on 11 June and on Sicily on 10 July 1943. The squadron supported the landings at Anzio on 22 January 1944 and flew patrols in that area for a short time.

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.

Tunisia Country in Northern Africa

Tunisia (officially the Republic of Tunisia) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa, covering 165,000 square kilometres. Its northernmost point, Cape Angela, is the northernmost point on the African continent. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia's population was 11.435 million in 2017. Tunisia's name is derived from its capital city, Tunis, which is located on its northeast coast.

Mediterranean Sea Sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean between Europe, Africa and Asia

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa and on the east by the Levant. Although the sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually identified as a separate body of water. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years, the Messinian salinity crisis, before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago.

Transferred to the China-Burma-India Theater, it moved to India in February and March 1944. [1] It initially carried out training with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. Moving to China in May, it became part of the Fourteenth Air Force. The squadron continued training and on occasion flew patrols and escort missions before returning to full-time combat duty in January 1945. It attacked enemy airfields and installations, flew escort missions and aided the operations of Chinese ground forces by attacking troop concentrations, ammunition dumps, lines of communication and other targets to hinder Japanese efforts to move men and matèriel to the front.

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk family of fighter aircraft

The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. It was the third most-produced American fighter of World War II, after the P-51 and P-47; by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built, all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation's main production facilities at Buffalo, New York.

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt family of fighter aircraft

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States from 1941 through 1945. Its primary armament was eight .50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a bomb load of 2,500 pounds (1,103 kg). When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons (tonnes) making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was also used by two U.S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair. The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat and ground attack in both the World War II European and Pacific theaters.

Fourteenth Air Force Numbered air force of the United States Air Force responsible for space forces

The Fourteenth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It is headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

It was inactivated in China on 27 December 1945. [1]

Cold War

The squadron was reactivated at Wheeler Field, Hawaii in late 1946. It was equipped with North American P-51 Mustangs and was responsible for the air defense of the Hawaiian Islands until 1949. It was reassigned to Continental Air Command, Ninth Air Force, being stationed in New Mexico. Re-equipped with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star jet aircraft, it trained as a tactical fighter squadron. The unit upgraded to North American F-86A Sabre day interceptors in 1951, performing air defense duties over the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico at Kirtland Air Force Base.

It was re-equipped with F-86Ds in 1953. It began upgrading to the F-86L in 1957, which incorporated the Semi Automatic Ground Environment, or SAGE computer-controlled direction system for intercepts. The duration of the F-86L's service was destined to be quite brief, since by the time the last 'L' was delivered, the type was already being phased out in favor of supersonic interceptors. The squadron was inactivated in 1960 [1] during an ADC reorganization and phase-out of the F-86 from active-duty units.

Lineage

Activated on 9 February 1942
Redesignated the 93d Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942
Inactivated on 8 December 1945
Redesignated 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 20 January 1950
Discontinued on 8 July 1960 [1]

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ Aircraft is North American F-86D-35-NA Sabre serial 51-6221, taken about 1955. Aircraft markings were red lightning bolts on the fuselage.
Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 312-313
  2. ↑ Cornett & Johnson

Bibliography

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

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