| Unit Name: | 472nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron (later 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron) |
| Dates: | 1942-1944; 1954-1957 |
| Role: | Fighter-bomber |
| Identification Symbol Label: | 472d Bombardment Squadron Emblem[1] |
The 472d Fighter-Bomber Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was active in the reserve at Selfridge Air Force Base and Willow Run Airport from 1954 until it was inactivated in 1957.
In 1985, the squadron was consolidated with the 472d Bombardment Squadron, which served as a Replacement Training Unit at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina, from 1942 until 1944, when it was disbanded in a general reorganization of Army Air Forces training and support units in the United States. The consolidated unit was designated the 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, but the unit has not been active since consolidation.
The squadron's first predecessor, the 471st Bombardment Squadron, was activated 0n 16 July 1942 as one of the four original squadrons of the 334th Bombardment Group at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina.[1] [2] It operated as a North American B-25 Mitchell Replacement Training Unit (RTU). RTUs were oversized units which trained individual pilots and aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters.[3]
However, the Army Air Forces (AAF) found that standard military units, whose manning was based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not well well adapted to the training mission, particularly to the replacement training mission.[4] Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.[5] This resulted in the 334th Group, its components and supporting units at Greenville, being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 330th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Medium, Bombardment).[1] [2] [6]
The 472d Fighter-Bomber Squadron was activated in the reserve at Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan on 1 April 1954, and assigned to the 439th Fighter-Bomber Group, replacing the 92d Fighter-Bomber Squadron. Its training was supervised by the 2242nd Air Force Reserve Combat Training Center (later the 2242nd Air Reserve Flying Center).[7] [8]
The squadron was originally equipped with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars, but re-equipped with Republic F-84 Thunderjets in 1956.[9] It also operated a variety of trainer and transport aircraft.[10] Despite its fighter bomber designation, the unit was gained by Air Defense Command (ADC) upon mobilization. ADC required the squadrons it gained to be designed to augment active duty squadrons capable of performing air defense missions for an indefinite period after mobilization independently of their parent wing.[11]
During the first half of 1955, the Air Force began detaching Air Force reserve squadrons from their parent wing locations to separate sites. The concept offered several advantages: communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning. As it finally evolved in the spring of 1955, the Continental Air Command’s plan called for placing Air Force reserve units at fifty-nine installations located throughout the United States.[12] In this program, the squadron moved from Selfridge to Willow Run Airport, Michigan in late 1955.[13]
The Joint Chiefs of Staff were pressuring the Air Force to provide more wartime airlift. At the same time, about 150 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars became available from the active force. Consequently, in November 1956 the Air Force directed Continental Air Command to convert three reserve fighter bomber wings to the troop carrier mission by September 1957. In addition, within the Air Staff was a recommendation that the reserve fighter mission be given to the Air National Guard and replaced by the troop carrier mission.[14] Cuts in the budget in 1957 also led to a reduction in the number of reserve squadrons from 55 to 45.[15] The 439th Fighter-Bomber Wing was replaced by the 403d Troop Carrier Wing in November 1957 and the 472d was inactivated without a replacement as reserve flying operations at Willow Run Airport terminated.
The two squadrons were consolidated in 1985 as the 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron,[16] but have never been active since consolidation.
472d Bombardment Squadron
Activated on 16 July 1942
Disbanded on 1 May 1944[1]
Reconstituted on 19 September 1985 and consolidated with the 472d Fighter-Bomber Squadron as the 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron[16] 472d Fighter-Bomber Squadron
Activated on 1 April 1954[17]
Inactivated on 16 November 1957[16]
Consolidated with the 472d Bombardment Squadron on 19 September 1985 as the 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron[16]
* Book: Goss, William A.. Craven, Wesley F.. Cate, James L. . The Army Air Forces in World War II. December 17, 2016 . VI, Men & Planes. 1955. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL. 704158. 48003657. The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF.