550th Fighter Squadron
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The 550th Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. Its current assignment is with 56th Operations Group, at Kingsley Field, Oregon.
550th Fighter Squadron | |
---|---|
Active | 1944–1946; 1970-1991; 1994-1995, 2017- |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Role | F-15C Replacement Training Unit |
Part of | Air Education and Training Command |
Nickname(s) | Silver Eagles[1] |
Colors | Silver and black[citation needed] |
Mascot(s) | Eagle[citation needed] |
Engagements |
|
Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Philippine Presidential Unit Citation[3] |
Insignia | |
550th Fighter Squadron emblem (approved 26 June 2017)[3] | |
Patch with 550th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron emblem (approved 10 April 1978)[3] | |
Patch with 550th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron emblem (approved c. 1970) | |
Unofficial 550th Night Fighter Squadron emblem[4] | |
Unofficial 550th Night Fighter Squadron emblem (variation)[4] |
The unit was originally formed as the 550th Night Fighter Squadron in 1944. After training, it was deployed to Thirteenth Air Force and ordered to the Netherlands East Indies to provide air defense interceptor protection against Japanese night air raids on American airfields. It later served in the Philippines Campaign where in addition to night interceptor missions it also flew day and night air interdiction missions against enemy troop movements, bridges and other targets of opportunity. It was inactivated in 1946.
The squadron was later activated in the Cold War as a McDonnell F-4 Phantom II Replacement Training Unit (RTU) at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It later transitioned to the McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle in the late 1970s continuing the RTU mission at Luke. It also performed interceptor training for Air Defense, Tactical Air Command pilots who flew the F-15 as an interceptor for NORAD committed units. It became a RTU for the F-15E Strike Eagle before being inactivated in 1995 when the F-15 was phased out from Luke after 21 years. In 2017, it was reactivated as a training squadron flying the F-15C based with the Oregon Air National Guard in Oregon.