72d Tactical Fighter Training Squadron - General Dynamics F-16B Block 10B Fighting Falcon 80-0623

72d Tactical Fighter Squadron - F-100D-25-NA 55-3610

72d Fighter Squadron P-51 Mustang North Field Iwo Jima 1945

The 72nd Fighter Squadron is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

unit. Its last assignment was with the

56th Operations Group The 56th Operations Group is a unit of the United States Air Force, and the flying component of the 56th Fighter Wing. The group is the direct descendant of the World War II 56th Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces. The 56th ...

, based at

MacDill Air Force Base MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was inactivated on 19 June 1992.

History

World War II

Established as a defensive interceptor squadron for

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in late 1941. Suffered tremendous casualties and aircraft losses at

Wheeler Field Wheeler Army Airfield , also known as Wheeler Field and formerly as Wheeler Air Force Base, is a United States Army post located in the City & County of Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii. It is a National Histo ...

during the

Pearl Harbor Attack The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. Re-equipped and used as

Seventh Air Force The Seventh Air Force (Air Forces Korea) (7 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The command's mission is to plan and direct air component operations in ...

training unit; also flew reconnaissance patrols over Hawaii until late 1943. Deployed to Central Pacific as part of

island hopping campaign against Japanese in late 1943. Flew combat missions from Makin Island using P-39 Airacobra fighters until April 1944, returning to Hawaii and being re-equipped and trained with long-range

P-51 Mustangs The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

. Re-deployed to Western Pacific, being stationed on

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

while battle for the island was still ongoing and engaged in long-range

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

escort missions over Japan; continuing that mission until the end of hostilities in August 1945. Reassigned to

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

, as a Far East Air Force fighter squadron, inactivated 1946.

Cold War

Reactivated as

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 J ...

F-86 jet tactical fighter squadron, 1952 Deployed to France in 1954 as part of NATO; re-equipped with the

F-100 Super Sabre The North American F-100 Super Sabre is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971 and with the Air National Guard (ANG) until 1979. The first of the Century Series of ...

1957. Ordered out of France by host government as part of France's rejection of NATO's nuclear weapons policy. Reassigned to

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 1958 for air defense of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. Inactivated 1959 as a result of budget reductions. Equipment reassigned to 510th Tactical Fighter Squadron.

Pilot training

Reactivated 1 July 1982 at

MacDill AFB MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

, Florida as an F-16A/B Block 10 Fighting Falcon Replacement Training Unit Squadron, replacing the 13th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron when the 58th TFTS transitioned from

F-4 Phantom II The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

s. Tail coded "MC", black tail stripe outlined in white. Upgraded to the Block 25 and 30 F-16C/D in March 1990 and continued as a Replacement Training Unit. Inactivated in 1992 as part of the BRAC realignment of MacDill AFB.

Lineage

* Constituted 72nd Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on 4 October 1941 : Activated on 5 October 1941 : Re-designated 72nd Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942 : Inactivated on 10 October 1946 * Redesignated 72nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 15 November 1952 : Activated on 1 January 1953 : Inactivated on 8 February 1958 * Re-designated 72nd Tactical Fighter Squadron on 19 May 1958 : Activated on 1 July 1958 : Inactivated on 9 April 1959 * Re-designated 72nd Tactical Fighter Training Squadron, and activated on 1 July 1982 : Re-designated 72nd Fighter Squadron on 1 November 1991 : Inactivated on 19 June 1992

Assignments

* 15th Pursuit (later Fighter) Group, 5 October 1941 *

318th Fighter Group The 318th Fighter Group was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. It served primarily in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. History The 318th Fighter Group was activated in October 1942 when the remainders of ...

, 15 October 1942 * 21st Fighter Group, 15 June 1944 – 10 October 1946 * 21st Fighter-Bomber Group, 1 January 1953 – 8 February 1958 * 6200th Air Base Wing, 1 July 1958 – 9 April 1959. * 56th Tactical Training Wing, 1 July 1992 *

, 1 November 1991 – 19 June 1992

Stations

Hawaii Territory The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Ap ...

, 5 October 1941 * Hilo Field,

, 25 July 1943 *

, 21 October 1943 *

Makin Airfield Butaritari Airport is an airport on Butaritari in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. History Butaritari Atoll Airport was built in Kiribati during World War II by the United States after seizing the island from the Japanese. Constructi ...

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

, 18 December 1943 *

Haleiwa Fighter Strip Haleiwa Fighter Strip was a military airfield on Oahu, Hawaii. It was used as part of the island's defense in World War II. History This obscure former military strip became famous during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Originally u ...

, 23 April 1944 *

Mokuleia Field Dillingham Airfield is a public and military use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) west of the central business district of Mokulēia, in Honolulu County. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective May 31, 2012. on the Nort ...

, 8 June 1944 * Central Field,

, 26 March 1945 * South Field,

, 15 July 1945 * Isley Airfield,

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

, 5 December 1945 *

Northwest Field Northwest Field (historically Northwest Guam Air Force Base) is a military airfield in Guam. Built in 1945 during World War II, the airfield was used as a bomber base during and after the war until it was closed in 1949. Units deployed to the ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, 17 April-10 October 1946 *

George AFB George Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located within the city limits, 8 miles northwest, of central Victorville, California, about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. Established by the United States Army Air Co ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 1 January 1953 – 26 November 1954 * Châteauroux-Déols Air Base,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, 14 December 1954 *

Chambley-Bussières Air Base Chambley-Bussières Air Base is a former United States Air Force base in France. It is located in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département of France, about west of the French city of Metz, and about southwest of Chambley-Bussières, on the south si ...

, 9 July 1955 – 8 February 1958 *

Clark AB Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located west of Angeles City, about northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was previously a United States military facility, operated by the U.S. Air Forc ...

, 1 July 1958 – 9 April 1959. *

, 1 July 1982 – 19 June 1992

Aircraft

P-40 Warhawk 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 ...

, 1941–1943 *

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...

, 1943–1944 *

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...

, 1944–1945 *

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

, 1944–1946 *

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

, 1946 *

F-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team ...

, 1953 *

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing So ...

, 1953–1957 *

, 1958–1959 *

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

, 1982-1992

Emblems

File:72d Fighter Squadron.png, World War II squadron emblem File:72d Fighter-Bomber Squadron - Emblem.png, 72nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron emblem File:72d Tactical Fighter Squadron - Emblem.png, 72nd Tactical Fighter Squadron emblem

References

* * Martin, Patrick. Tail Code: The Complete History of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings. Schiffer Publishing, 1994. . * Rogers, Brian. ''United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978''. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications, 2005. {{ISBN, 1-85780-197-0. Military units and formations established in 1942 072 072