The 466th Fighter Squadron is the 419th Fighter Wing's operational flying squadron. It is located at

Hill Air Force Base Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in northern Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adjacent to ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The squadron was activated late in World War II. Intended as a long-range escort unit, it deployed to the Pacific, but remained in Hawaii until it was inactivated after

VJ Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

. The squadron was reactivated in 1952 as the 466th Fighter-Escort Squadron, but was inactivated in 1956, when the concept of fighters escorting formations of bombers no longer jibed with United States military thinking.

Overview

The 419th uses 15

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

C/D model aircraft, which are light, air-to-air daytime fighters. The 466th Fighter Squadron first saw action in 1998, participating in Exercise Cope Tiger. This is a drill which puts reserve pilots shoulder to shoulder with members of the Thailand and Singapore Air Forces. Later that year, the 466th was deployed to Kuwait in time for

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...

. The 466th was part of a unit attempting to hold off Iraqi movements toward Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabia.

History

World War II

Formed in late 1944 under

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

as one of the last

Republic 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 ...

fighter squadrons, programmed for deployment to Western Pacific theater with long-range P-47N for

Boeing 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. Arrived in Hawaii in early 1945, assigned to

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 ...

. Lack of a serious fighter defense over Japan at high altitudes and reprogramming of B-29 raids over Japan to night low-level fast attacks led to reassignment as an

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

and training unit in Hawaii.

Early Cold War fighter escort

Reactivated as the 466th Fighter-Escort Squadron to accompany formations of

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

Boeing B-50 Superfortress The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...

and

Convair B-36 Peacemaker The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...

bombers. Twice deployed to Japan to augment air defense forces there. Inactivated in 1956 with the phaseout of the escort mission and retirement of the B-36.

Reserve fighter operations

Activated again in the

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

as the 466th Tactical Fighter Squadron in 1972 as a

Republic F-105 Thunderchief The Republic F-105 Thunderchief is an American supersonic fighter-bomber that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 to 1984. Capable of Mach 2, it conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vie ...

squadron, being equipped with aircraft returned from inactivated

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

squadrons. Since 1984 has trained to fly interdiction, close air support, and counter-air missions. Deployed periodically for contingency operations, or for training exercises with other units.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 466th Fighter Squadron on 5 October 1944 : Activated on 12 October 1944 : Inactivated on 25 November 1945 * Redesignated 466th Fighter-Escort Squadron on 19 June 1952 : Activated on 1 July 1952 : Redesignated 466th Strategic Fighter Squadron on 20 January 1953 : Inactivated on 11 May 1956 * Redesignated 466th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 23 June 1972 : Activated in the reserve on 1 January 1973 : Redesignated 466th Fighter Squadron on 1 February 1992

Assignments

* 508th Fighter Group, 12 October 1944 – 25 November 1945 * 508th Fighter-Escort Wing (later 508th Strategic Fighter Wing), 1 July 1952 – 11 May 1956 (not operational until September 1952) * 508th Tactical Fighter Group, 1 January 1973 * 301st Tactical Fighter Wing, 25 March 1973 * 508th Tactical Fighter Group, 17 October 1975 * 419th Tactical Fighter Wing (later 419th Fighter Wing), 1 October 1982 * 419th Operations Group, 1 August 1992 – present

Stations

Peterson Field Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the Nor ...

, Colorado, 12 October 1944 *

Pocatello Army Air Field Pocatello Regional Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located seven nautical miles (13 km) northwest of the central business district of Pocatello, a city in Bannock County, Idaho, United States. The airport is built on the ...

, Idaho, 25 October 1944 *

Bruning Army Air Field Bruning Army Air Field was a flight training installation of the United States Army Air Forces used during World War II and located in northeast Thayer County, Nebraska, at coordinates 40°20'25" North, 97°25'42" West, approximately six miles ...

, Nebraska, 15 November – 18 December 1944 * Kahuku Army Air Base, Hawaii, 6 January 1945 * Mokuleia Army Air Base, Hawaii, 25 February 1945 *

Bellows Field A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...

, Hawaii, 16 September – 25 November 1945 *

Turner Air Force Base Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turnin ...

, Georgia, 1 July 1952 – 11 May 1956 (deployed to

Misawa Air Base is an air base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), the United States Air Force, and the United States Navy located in Misawa, Aomori, in the northern part of the island of Honshū of Japan. It is located northeast of Misawa railwa ...

, Japan, 8 February – 5 May 1953 and 16 February – 16 May 1954) *

, Utah, 1 January 1973 – present

Aircraft

* Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 1944–1945 *

Republic F-84 Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thu ...

, 1952–1956 * Republic F-105 Thunderchief, 1973–1984 *

Lockheed T-33 T-Bird The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

, 1973–1980 * General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon 1984–2017 * Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II 2017 – present

References

; Notes ; Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{cite book, last=Ravenstein, first=Charles A., title=Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977, url=https://archive.org/details/airforcecombatwi0000rave, access-date=17 December 2016, year=1984, publisher=Office of Air Force History, location=Washington, DC, isbn=0-912799-12-9, url-access=registration

External links

419 Fighter Wing factsheet
at global security.org Military units and formations established in 1944 466 Military units and formations in Utah Fighter squadrons of the United States Army Air Forces