539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
Convair F-106B Delta Dart 57-2530 with a load of AIM-4 Falcons at McGuire AFB about 1966
Active 1943–1944; 1954-1967
Country  United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Role Fighter-Interceptor
Insignia
Patch with 539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron emblem (approved 9 December 1954)[1]

The 539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the New York Air Defense Sector at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, where it was inactivated on 31 August 1967.

History

World War II

The 539th Fighter Squadron was activated in October 1943 at Westover Field, Chicopee, Massachusetts in October 1943. Shortly after activation, the squadron moved to Seymour Johnson Field, Goldsboro, North Carolina to become part of the 402d Fighter Group where it operated under the Replacement Training Unit Program of the advanced phase of pilot training. In December 1943, the squadron again moved, this time to Bluethenthal Field, Wilmington, North Carolina, and was assigned to the 326th Fighter Group where it remained until disbanded in April 1944.

Air Defense Command

North American F-86D Sabre 52-3936 at Stewart AFB in 1954
F-106A 57-2467, with light blue thunderbolt on the tail fin
F-106A about 1960, with marking of a triangle pierced by a chevron

It was reactivated as part of the United States Air Force Air Defense Command. In January 1955 it received F-86D's and in August 1955 the unit designation was transferred to McGuire Air Force Base as the 539th Fighter Interceptor Squadron where it received F-86L's. In May 1959 the squadron transitioned to F-106A becoming the first squadron in the United States Air Force to be equipped with the F-106's.

On 22 October 1962, before President John F. Kennedy told Americans that missiles were in place in Cuba, the squadron dispersed one third of its force, equipped with nuclear tipped missiles to Olmsted Air Force Base at the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis.[2][3] These planes returned to McGuire after the crisis.

The 539th was inactivated 31 August 1967 as part of the phasedown of the ADC interceptor force.

Lineage

  • Constituted as the 539th Fighter Squadron on 24 September 1943
Activated on 1 October 1943
  • Disbanded on 10 April 1944
  • Reconstituted and redesignated 539th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 23 March 1953
  • Activated on 18 April 1954
  • Inactivated on 23 August 1967

Assignments

Stations

  • Westover Field, Massachusetts, 1 October 1943
  • Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina, 13 October 1943
  • Bluethenthal Field, North Carolina, 8 December 1943 – 10 April 1944
  • Stewart Air Force Base, New York, 18 April 1954
  • McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, 18 August 1955 – 23 August 1967

Aircraft

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. pp. 645–646. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
  2. ↑ McMullen, Richard F. (1964) "The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962-1964" ADC Historical Study No. 27, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, CO (Confidential, declassified 22 Mar 2000), pp. 10-12
  3. ↑ NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO , 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996). P. 16

Bibliography

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

  • Cornett, Lloyd H.; Johnson, Mildred W. (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center.
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
  • McMullen, Richard F. (1964) "The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962-1964" ADC Historical Study No. 27, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, CO (Confidential, declassified 22 Mar 2000)
  • NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996)
  • "ADCOM's Fighter Interceptor Squadrons". The Interceptor (January 1979) Aerospace Defense Command, (Volume 21, Number 1)
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