481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group
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481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group
The 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group (481 NFOTG) was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces. It was inactivated on 31 March 1944 at Hammer Field, California. The group was the primary night fighter Operational Training Unit (OTU)/Replacement Training Unit (RTU) of the Army Air Forces during World War II. Its mission was to train either new graduates of Training Command advanced flying schools or transition experienced pilots into the P-61 Black Widow night fighter. It trained them in the flight characteristics of the aircraft and also night fighter interceptor techniques prior to the operational squadrons or replacement pilots being deployed to one of the overseas combat theaters. History Origins Specialized training in night fighter interceptor tactics began in March 1942 upon the return of Air Corps observers from England prior to the United States' entry into World War II. During World War I, the 1st Pursuit Group 185th Aero Squadron had flown night inte ...
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Us Army Air Corps Shield
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americans ...
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B-18 Bolo
The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company from their DC-2, to replace the Martin B-10. By 1940 standards, it was slow, had an inadequate defensive armament, and carried too small a bomb load. A B-18 was one of the first USAAF aircraft to sink a German U-boat, on 22 August 1942 in the Caribbean. By 1942, surviving B-18s were relegated to antisubmarine, training and transport duties. Design and development In 1934, the United States Army Air Corps requested for a twin-engine heavy bomber with double the bomb load and range of the Martin B-10 then entering service. During the evaluation at Wright Field the following year, Douglas offered its DB-1. It was competing against the Boeing Model 299 (later developed into the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress) and Martin 146. While the Boeing de ...
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Fourth Air Force
The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reservists. If called to active duty, 4 AF's ready reserve units would be assigned to Air Mobility Command, Air Education and Training Command, and Pacific Air Forces. Several airfields are associated with the Fourth Air Force. One of the four original pre–World War II numbered air forces, 4 AF was activated on 18 December 1940, at March Field, California with a mission of air defense of the Southwestern United States and Lower Midwest regions. During the war, its primary mission became the organization and training of combat units prior to their deployment to the overseas combat air forces. 4 AF is commanded by Brigadier General Derin S. Durham. Units Fourth Air Force flying units include one unit-equipped air mobility and two unit-equip ...
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Boca Raton Army Airfield
Boca Raton Army Air Field was a World War II United States Army Air Forces airfield, located northwest of the 1940s borders of Boca Raton, Florida. During World War II, it operated the only training for the then new and secret technology of radar. Closed in 1946, due to annexation the former base is now within the city of Boca Raton; the land is currently occupied by the Boca Raton Airport, Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach State College. History Origins In 1936, the Boca Raton Airport was a small city airport. In 1941, in response to the emerging Axis threat, the United States began to rapidly mobilize and expand its armed forces. In addition to enlarging its Army and Navy, the US also sought to expand its air forces. With America entering into World War II, the Army Air Corps suddenly underwent rapid expansion. The mild winter climate and the flat terrain of South Florida marked the areas as ideal for flying and aviation training. In the early-1940s, Boca Raton's ...
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424th Night Fighter Squadron
4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest composite number, its proper divisors being and . Four is the sum and product of two with itself: 2 + 2 = 4 = 2 x 2, the only number b such that a + a = b = a x a, which also makes four the smallest squared prime number p^. In Knuth's up-arrow notation, , and so forth, for any number of up arrows. By consequence, four is the only square one more than a prime number, specifically 3, three. The sum of the first four prime numbers 2, two + 3, three + 5, five + 7, seven is the only sum of four consecutive prime numbers that yields an Parity (mathematics), odd prime number, 17 (number), seventeen, which is the fourth super-prime. Four lies between the first proper pair of twin primes, 3, three and ...
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Dunnellon Army Air Field
Marion County Airport is a county-owned public airport located in the unincorporated area of Dunnellon, in Marion County, Florida, United States. In 2014, the general aviation airport averaged 105 flights per day. The complex features two lighted runways with no control tower. During World War II, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces for training and was then known as the Dunnellon Army Air Field. Overview The Marion County Airport is also known as the Dunnellon Army Airfield. It is owned by the Dunnellon Airport Authority and has recently been moved under the Park and Recreation department under the Marion County BCC at the direction of Mounir Bouyones, the County Administrator. Jim Couillard is the Airport Director and Mike Grawe is the Airport Manager. The airport is located in unincorporated Marion County, Florida. From Interstate 75, it is situated west of the highway. The airport and commerce complex encompasses of land. With new security fencing, ele ...
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420th Night Fighter Squadron
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest composite number, its proper divisors being and . Four is the sum and product of two with itself: 2 + 2 = 4 = 2 x 2, the only number b such that a + a = b = a x a, which also makes four the smallest squared prime number p^. In Knuth's up-arrow notation, , and so forth, for any number of up arrows. By consequence, four is the only square one more than a prime number, specifically three. The sum of the first four prime numbers two + three + five + seven is the only sum of four consecutive prime numbers that yields an odd prime number, seventeen, which is the fourth super-prime. Four lies between the first proper pair of twin primes, three and five, which are the first two Fermat primes, like seventeen, which is the third. On the other hand, t ...
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Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabteilung'' of the Imperial Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 in accordance with the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which banned Germany from having any air force. During the interwar period, German pilots were trained secretly in violation of the treaty at Lipetsk Air Base in the Soviet Union. With the rise of the Nazi Party and the repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, the ''Luftwaffe''s existence was publicly acknowledged on 26 February 1935, just over two weeks before open defiance of the Versailles Treaty through German rearmament and conscription would be announced on 16 March. The Condor Legion, a ''Luftwaffe'' detachment sent to aid Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, provided the force with a valuable testing grou ...
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Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber. The Beaufighter proved to be an effective night fighter, which came into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain, its large size allowing it to carry heavy armament and early airborne interception radar without major performance penalties. The Beaufighter was used in many roles; receiving the nicknames ''Rockbeau'' for its use as a rocket-armed ground attack aircraft and ''Torbeau'' as a torpedo bomber against Axis shipping, in which it replaced the Beaufort. In later operations, it served mainly as a maritime strike/ground attack aircraft, RAF Coastal Command having operated the largest number of Beaufighters amongst all other commands at one point. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also m ...
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Kissimmee Army Airfield
Kissimmee Army Airfield, was a United States Army Air Forces airfield during World War II, located west of Kissimmee, Florida. History The airport opened in April 1940 as the Kissimmee Municipal Airport. By 1941, it was taken over by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) as part of the expansion of defense forces in the United States prior to World War II. Known as Kissimmee Army Airfield, it was a sub-base of the Orlando Army Air Base. Operationally, once enough construction was completed, the first operational mission assigned to the new base was to conduct reconnaissance over the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico, looking for Nazi U-boats. The 26th Anti-Submarine Wing, based in Miami, deployed elements of the 9th Antisubmarine Squadron to the field. O-47 light observation aircraft, along with B-25 Mitchell and B-34 Lexington medium bombers equipped with antisubmarine radar were used to fly anti-sub patrols over the Atlantic coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The a ...
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81st Fighter Squadron
The 81st Fighter Squadron (81 FS) is a training squadron of the United States Air Force's Air Education and Training Command (AETC), stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. It is a Geographically Separate Unit of the 14th Operations Group, 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, and operates the A-29B Super Tucano aircraft conducting close air support training for allied nations. The 81st FS is AETC's only combat mission ready fighter squadron. History World War II The squadron was first activated on 15 January 1942, at Key Field, Mississippi, as the 81st Pursuit Squadron flying the P-40 Warhawk. The squadron was assigned to the 50th Fighter Group to replace the 11th Pursuit Squadron, which had been transferred after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to reinforce the air defenses of Alaska. In May 1942 the 50th Group was assigned to the Fighter Command School of the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics and the 81st became the 81st Fight ...
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349th Night Fighter Squadron
The 349th Night Fighter Squadron (349th NFS) is an inactive United States Air Force unit which specialized in training airmen to utilize night fighters as nighttime interceptors. Its last assignment was with the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group, based at Hammer Field, California. First activated in October 1942, the unit was inactivated on 31 March 1944. The squadron was one of the first dedicated Night Fighter Operational Training Squadron of the Air Force. The squadron trained newly activated night fighter squadrons who were deployed overseas into combat until its inactivation in March 1944 due to a re-alignment of training unit designations.Northrop P-61 Black Widow—The Complete History and Combat Record, Garry R. Pape, John M. Campbell and Donna Campbell, Motorbooks International, 1991. History The squadron was formed in October 1942 from elements of the 81st Fighter Squadron as part of the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT) Fighter Command S ...
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