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57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-15 Eagles over Iceland in 1986
Active	1940–1944; 1947-1949; 1953-1995
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Fighter-Interceptor
Role	Air Defense
Part of	Air Combat Command
Nickname(s)	Black Knights
Engagements	Asiatic-Pacific Theater American Theater of World War II
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
Patch with the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Emblem

The 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, also known as "The Black Knights of Keflavik", is an inactive United States Air Force unit. The 57 FIS was last stationed at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland. It was inactivated on 1 March 1995.

History

World War II

The squadron was activated at Hamilton Field, California as the 57th Pursuit Squadron on 15 January 1941, as one of the three original squadrons of the 54th Pursuit Group. It trained with Curtiss P-36 Hawks and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, then moved to Everett Army Air Field, where it served as a part of the air defense force for the Pacific coast during the first few months of World War II. It was formed with a cadre from the 35th Pursuit Group. The squadron was redesignated as a fighter unit in May 1942.

On 20 June 1942, the air echelon of the 54th PG (now FG) took its P-40s and newly assigned Bell P-39 Airacobras to Elmendorf Field, Alaska, where it served in combat against the Japanese forces that invaded the Aleutian Islands during the summer of 1942. The unit did not in itself take any part in the action against the Japanese in the Aleutians, but a detachment of eleven of the pilots saw service with the 42d which was based at Kodiak NAS, Adak and between them got three confirmed victories and two probables. On 4 August 1942, the 57th was moved to Kodiak NAS, Adak and there replaced the 42d. All its pilots were rotated to Adak to gain combat experience. Squadron pilots were credited with the destruction of three enemy aircraft while deployed to Alaska.

The air echelon returned to the United States in December 1942 and rejoined the group, which had been assigned to Third Air Force in Louisiana, and became a replacement training unit (RTU) for North American P-51 Mustang pilots. RTUs were oversized units training individual pilots or aircrews. The unit's P-39s were to be flown to Duncan Field, Texas for depot-level overhaul. It was reequipped with the North American P-51A Mustang, thereby becoming the first P-51 unit in the AAF.

In early May 1943, the 54th Fighter Group began a split operation, with headquarters and the 56th and 57th Fighter Squadrons relocating to Bartow Army Air Field, Florida, while the group's other squadron was at Hillsborough Army Air Field. However, the Army Air Forces (AAF) was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. As a result, in 1944 the squadron was disbanded as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system. The units at Bartow were replaced by the 340th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Fighter),

Reserve Operations

The unit was reactivated under Air Defense Command (ADC) on 24 March 1947 as an Air Force Reserve fighter squadron at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona. The unit was not fully manned or equipped. It was inactivated in June 1949 when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve units under the Wing Base Organization system.

Air Defense Command

In March 1953, the squadron was reactivated as the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, flying Northrop F-89 Scorpions. It was activated at Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine as the 528th Air Defense Group's second operational squadron. A second swap of units began when the 82d Fighter Interceptor Squadron arrived from Iceland. The 57th FIS then moved to Iceland and was reassigned away from the group in November of the same year. The 57th was reactivated as a regular squadron at Presque Isle AFB, Maine, on 20 March 1953 under Air Defense Command and designated the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. It was equipped with Northrop F-89C Scorpion interceptor, and assigned to the 528th Air Defense Group. It maintained a 24-hour alert at Presque Isle. The squadron was known as "Back Knights of Aroostook" Two Presidential Citations. Several Air Crashes of F89-C resulting in lost of life. Then moved to Iceland. Airman Ernest M. Christensen, severed as Jet Mechanic August 1953 to August 1955.

Air Defense of Iceland

On 12 November 1954, the 57th FIS moved to Keflavik Airport, Iceland, replacing the 82d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron which was temporarily assigned from Larson AFB, Washington. At Keflavik, the squadron was assigned to Iceland Air Defense Force (IADF), a component of Military Air Transport Service.

The 57th FIS at Keflavik was an interceptor squadron charged with the monitoring of the Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom gap in the North Atlantic that formed a naval warfare choke point during the Cold War. The 57th would respond alerts from Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning stations established on Iceland; the GCI stations guiding its interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the radar scopes. Over 1,000 intercepts of Soviet aircraft took place inside Iceland's Military Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

On 18 December 1955 MATS activated the 1400th Operations Group as the mission at Keflavik was expanded to accommodate Tactical Air Command (TAC) and Strategic Air Command transient aircraft. In 1959, a retrenchment of USAF operations began, including the reduction of F-89 interceptors and ADC and SAC (tenant) activities.

Air Force activities at the airport were reorganized and IADF was redesignated Air Forces Iceland, which functioned at a Wing level on 1 July 1960. Shortly afterwards, the USAF transferred jurisdiction of Keflavik Airport to the United States Navy on 1 July 1961 which named it Naval Air Station Keflavik. The Air Force units at Keflavik operated in a tenant status with the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and two Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons on 1 July 1961. The USAF facilities remained designated Keflavik Airport.

In 1962 ADC replaced the squadron's F-89s with newer Convair F-102 Delta Dagger supersonic interceptors, the F-89s generally being worn-out after nearly a decade of continual interceptions. Challenges by the 57th FIS to Soviet aircraft on flights over the North Atlantic and along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States to bases in Cuba continued throughout the 1960s.

The first McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aircraft was assigned to the squadron on 16 April 1973, as TAC was replacing its F-4C's with F-4E models at the end of the Vietnam War. By 30 June, the squadron. had six F-4Cs and additional F-4s were received in the third quarter of 1974. The last of the F-102s were replaced in early 1975 when additional F-4Cs were received from TAC squadrons at Luke AFB and George AFB; the last F-4C arriving in March 1976.

In early 1978 preparations for the exchange of the F-4C for F-4Es were underway with the first two aircraft landing on 21 March. These aircraft were better equipped than the C models, with solid state radios and tactical navigation equipment, lead computing optical gunsight and ILS. Twelve aircraft arrived between April and July, and the last F-4Cs left on 14 June. On 1 August, one of the squadron's F-4Es was taking off for a training mission to practice interceptions for the William Tell interceptor weapons meet as the number two ship in a formation. After a very long takeoff roll followed by difficulty in controlling pitch, the crew found the plane's outer wing panels were in the folded position. After the crew safely landed, it was discovered that the wing fold locking lugs were retracted and as the Phantom's nose was lifted on takeoff, the outer wing panels had "gently lifted to their folded position and stayed there." The wing panels had apparently been unlocked when the plane was repainted from Tactical Air Command camouflage to ADC gray and had not been locked when the job was through,

Four F-106 Delta Darts of the 87th FIS from K.I. Sawyer AFB, MI deployed to Keflavik in April 1978 to augment the 57th's alert capabilities during the "Black Knights" transition from F-4Cs to F-4Es. They occupied the open air flight line beside the alert shelters, and operated from this location for approximately a month, during which they made several successful intercepts against the Soviet "Bear" fleet.

On 1 October 1979 TAC absorbed ADC's assets, and the F-4E Phantom II aircraft of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. In 1982 the construction of hardened aircraft shelters was planned on the west end of the airfield and this construction started in 1983. The shelters were of a Norwegian design, with the doors opening inwards and fitting into a recess in the foundation, thus making the floor for the aircraft to taxi over. Thirteen shelters were constructed.

In 1984 it was announced that the 57th FIS was programmed to receive the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Initially, it was believed that the squadron would get the F-15A model, as that was the version going into the ANG units at that time, and the 57th had never been equipped with the most modern front-line aircraft in the USAF. It therefore came as a surprise that July 1985, that modern F-15Cs and F-15Ds replaced the aging F-4s, and the tail code "IS" was assigned to Air Forces Iceland (AFI).

On 1 June 1992, Air Combat Command (ACC) assumed command and control of AFI and the 57th FIS. Air Forces Iceland was inactivated on 31 May 1993. Activated in its place, assuming the mission previously carried out by AFI, was the 35th Wing that was transferred from the closing George Air Force Base, California. The change was part of the Air Force's "objective wing" plan. On 1 October 1993, an ACC realignment transferred administrative control of the 35th Fighter Wing from First Air Force to Eighth Air Force. However, the 35th would go through another major change less than two years after it was activated at Keflavik.

Because the 35th garnered the majority of its history in the Pacific theater during World War II, and in California since 1971 until its move to Iceland, it was decided to relocate the unit back to that area. Consequently, the 35th Fighter Wing was relieved of its assignment to ACC and transferred to Misawa Air Base, Japan, on 1 October 1994. To assume the mission at Keflavik, the 85th Wing was activated on the same day.

The 85th Wing was a combination of the lineages and histories of the 85th Fighter-Bomber Group and the former Air Forces Iceland. This allowed the Air Force contingent in Iceland to keep alive its distinguished history in the foreign nation, while also retaining the history of a World War II flying unit.

Air Force reductions and a new agreement with the Government of Iceland continued to affect Keflavik organizations. On 1 March 1995, the 57th FS was inactivated and the interceptor force was replaced by Regular Air Force and Air National Guard F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft rotating every 90 days to Iceland until the USAF inactivated the 85th Group in 2002.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 57th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on 20 November 1940

Activated on 15 January 1941

Re-designated 57th Fighter Squadron, Single Engine on 15 May 1942

Disbanded on 1 May 1944

• Reconstituted on 24 March 1947

Activated in the reserve on 15 May 1947

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

• Redesignated 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 11 February 1953

Activated on 27 March 1953

Redesignated 57th Fighter Squadron on 1 January 1993

Inactivated on 1 March 1995

Assignments

• 54th Pursuit (later Fighter) Group, 15 January 1941 – 1 May 1944
• 459th Bombardment Group, 15 May 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 528th Air Defense Group, 27 March 1953
• Iceland Air Defense Force, 13 November 1954
• 1400th Operations Group, 18 December 1955
• Air Forces Iceland, 1 July 1960
• 35th Wing, 4 June 1992 – 1 October 1994
• 85th Group, 1 October 1994 – 1 March 1995

Stations

• Hamilton Field, California, 15 January 1941
• Paine Field, Washington, 26 June 1941
• Harding Field, Louisiana, 31 January 1942

Detachment operated from: San Diego Airport, California, 28 May – 12 June 1942

Detachment operated from: Elmendorf Field, Alaska, 20 June – 30 September 1942

Detachment operated from: Kodiak, Alaska, 29 September – 1 December 1942

• Bartow Army Airfield, Florida, 12 May 1943 – 1 May 1944
• Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, 15 May 1947 – 27 June 1949
• Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine, 27 March 1953
• Keflavik Airport (later NAS Keflavik), Iceland, 12 November 1954 – 1 March 1995

Aircraft

• Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, 1941
• Bell P-39 Airacobra, 1941–1943
• North American P-51 Mustang, 1943–1944
• Northrop F-89C Scorpion, 1953–1962
• Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, 1962–1973
• McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II, 1973–1978
• McDonell Douglas F-4E Phantom II, 1978–1985
• McDonnell Douglas F-15C and F-15D Eagle, 1985–1995

Awards and Campaigns

Award streamer	Award	Dates	Notes
	Distinguished Unit Citation Alaska	(20 June) 1942-4 November 1942	57th Fighter Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 April 1964-31 March 1966	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 April 1966-31 May 1967	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 June 1967-31 December 1968	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 January 1969-31 December 1969	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 January 1970-31 August 1970	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 July 1973-30 June 1975	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 July 1975-30 June 1976	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 July 1976-30 June 1978	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 July 1981-30 June 1982	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	31 October 1985-31 March 1987	57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

Campaign Streamer	Campaign	Dates	Notes
	Air Combat Asiatic-Pacific	20 June 1942 – 21 December 1943	57th Fighter Squadron
	American Theater	7 December 1941 – 1 May 1944	57th Fighter Squadron

See also

• Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons
• List of F-4 Phantom II operators
• List of F-15 operators

References

Notes

1. Apparently two Navy Phantoms had been launched from carriers with folded outer panels, but both were lost. Asher, p. 83

Citations

1. ^ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 228–229
2. ^ Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 116–117
3. Newton & Senning, p. 555
4. Craven & Cate, Vol. VI, Introduction, p. xxxvi
5. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 227
6. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 195
7. Craven & Cate, The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF, p. 75
8. See Abstract, History of Bartow AAF May-Jul 1944 Retrieved November 12, 2012
9. Cornett & Johnson, p. 116
10. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p.287
11. Cornett & Johnson, p.119
12. Serial 66-304
13. Asher, pp 83-84
14. ^ AF Pamphlet 900-2, 15 Jun 1971, p. 210
15. ^ AF Pamphlet 900-2, Vol II, 30 Sep 1976, p. 35
16. ^ "Air Force Recognition Programs". Air Force Personnel Center. Retrieved 27 April 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) (search)

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Cornett, Lloyd H; Johnson, Mildred W (1980). A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980 (PDF). Peterson AFB, CO: Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center.
• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) . Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) . Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6.
• Newton, Wesely P., Jr.; Senning, Calvin F. (1963). "USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II, USAF Historical Study No. 85" (PDF). Research Studies Institute, USAF Historical Division, Air University. Retrieved 27 April 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 15 Jun 1971
• AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits, Vol II Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 30 Sep 1976
• Asher, Gerald (Summer 2014). "Flight of an F-4E with Wings Folded". AAHS Journal. 59 (52). American Aviation Historical Society: 80–85.

Further reading

• Cantwell, Gerald T. (1997). Citizen Airmen: a History of the Air Force Reserve, 1946-1994. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN 0-16049-269-6.
• "ADCOM's Fighter Interceptor Squadrons". The Interceptor (January 1979) Aerospace Defense Command, (Volume 21, Number 1)

v t e Aerospace Defense Command (ADC)
Bases	CONUS Amarillo Beale Charleston Davis-Monthan Dobbins Dover Dow Duluth Eglin Edwards Ellington Ellsworth England Ent Ethan Allen Fairfax Fallon Fort Gregg-Adams Fort Heath Geiger George Glasgow Grand Forks Grenier Griffiss Gunter Hamilton Hancock Homestead Hurlburt Hunter Imeson Key West Kincheloe Kingsley Kirtland Lackland Laredo Larson Luke MacDill March Malmstrom McCoy McChord McClellan McGhee Tyson McGuire Minneapolis-St. Paul Minot Mitchel New Castle Niagara Falls Norton O'Hare Otis Oxnard Paine Perrin Peterson Pittsburgh Portland Presque Isle R.I. Bong Richards-Gebaur Robins K.I. Sawyer Selfridge Seymour Johnson Sioux City Stead Stewart Suffolk County Tinker Travis Truax Tyndall Vandenberg Vincent Walker Webb Westover Wright-Patterson Wurtsmith Youngstown Overseas Ernest Harmon Frobisher Bay Goose Keflavik McAndrew Pepperrell Thule
Stations	CONUS Adair Aiken Almaden Alpena Antigo Arlington Heights Baker Bedford Bellefontaine Belleville Benton Blaine Brookfield Brunswick Bucks Harbor Burns Calumet Cambria Cape Charles Cape Cod Carmi Caswell Chandler Charleston Cheyenne Mountain Claysburg Clear Colville Condon Continental Divide Cottonwood Cross City Crystal Springs Curlew Custer Cut Bank Dallas Center Dauphin Island Dickinson Duncanville Eldorado Empire Finland Finley Flintstone Fordland Fort Fisher Fort Lee Fortuna Gettysburg Grand Marais Grand Rapids Guthrie Hanna City Havre Highlands Houma Hutchinson Joelton Keno Killeen Kingman Kirksville Klamath Lake Charles Lake City Las Cruces Las Vegas Lewistown Lockport Lufkin Lyndonville Madera Makah Mica Peak Miles City Mill Valley Minot Montauk Moriarty Mount Hebo Mount Laguna Mount Lemmon Naselle North Bend North Charleston North Truro Oklahoma City Olathe Omaha Opheim Osceola Othello Owingsville Ozona Palermo Point Arena Port Austin Port Isabel Pyote Red Bluff Rochester Rockport Rockville (Indiana) Roslyn Rye Saint Albans San Clemente Island Santa Rosa Island Saratoga Springs Sault Ste Marie Shemya Snelling Snow Mountain Sweetwater Texarkana Tierra Amarilla Thomasville Tonopah Topsham Two Creeks Wadena Walnut Ridge Watertown Waverly West Mesa Willow Run Winnemucca Winslow Winston-Salem Woomera Yaak Zapata Overseas Armstrong Baldy Hughes Beausejour Cape Makkovik Cartwright Cut Throat Island Elliston Ridge Fox Harbour Hofn Hopedale Kamloops La Scie Langanes Latrar Melville Puntzi Mountain Ramore Red Cliff Rockville Saglek St. Anthony Saskatoon Mountain Sioux Lookout Spotted Island Stephenville
Air Defense units	Forces Central Air Defense Eastern Air Defense Iceland Western Air Defense First Fourth Tenth Fourteenth Air Divisions 8th 9th 20th 21st 23d 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32d 33d 34th 35th 36th 37th 58th 64th 73d 85th Sectors Albuquerque Bangor Boston Chicago Detroit Duluth Goose Grand Forks Great Falls Kansas City Los Angeles Minot Montgomery New York Oklahoma City Phoenix Portland Reno Sault Sainte Marie San Francisco Seattle Sioux City Spokane Stewart Syracuse Washington Wings Fighter 1st 4th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 56th 78th 81st 325th 328th 507th Detection and Control 71st 73d 551st 552d Air Defense 46th 4620th 4621st 4622d 4624th 4625th 4627th 4628th 4683d 4700th 4702d 4703d 4704th 4705th 4706th 4707th 4708th 4709th 4710th 4711th 4750th 4751st 4752d 4756th 4780th Groups Fighter 1st 4th 14th 15th 23d 32d 33d 50th 52d 53d 54th 56th 57th 78th 79th 81st 82d 84th 325th 326th 327th 328th 329th 337th 343d 355th 408th 412th 414th 473d 475th 476th 478th 507th Air Defense 10th 500th 501st 502d 503d 514th 515th 516th 517th 518th 519th 520th 521st 525th 527th 528th 529th 530th 533d 534th 564th 566th 567th 568th 575th 637th 665th 678th 692d 701st 751st 762d 765th 778th 780th 827th 858th 4606th 4620th 4676th 4700th 4721st 4722d 4727th 4728th 4729th 4730th 4731st 4732d 4733d 4734th 4735th 4750th 4756th Aircraft Control & Warning 503d 505th 540th 541st 542d 543d 544th 545th 546th 563d 564th 565th 566th Squadrons Aerospace Defense Command Fighter Squadrons Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons
Major weapon systems	Electronic TB-29 EB-57 EC-121 Fighters Propeller: F-47 F-51 P-61 F-82 Subsonic Jet: P-80 F-84 F-86 F-89 F-94 Supersonic Jet: F-101 F-102 F-104 F-106 Missiles AIM-4 AIM-26 AIR-2 CIM-10 Ships Guardian Interceptor Interdictor Interpreter Investigator Locator Lookout Outpost Pickett Protector Scanner Searcher Skywatcher Tracer Watchman Vigil Texas Towers Texas Tower 2 Texas Tower 3 Texas Tower 4
Miscellaneous	Air Defense Command Emblem Gallery (on Wikimedia Commons) General Surveillance Radar Stations

v t e USAAF Second Air Force in World War II
Airfields	Airfields
Units	Commands II Air Support Command II Bomber Command II Fighter Command IV Air Support Command XX Bomber Command XXI Bomber Command XXII Bomber Command Wings 5th Bombardment 15th Bombardment Training 16th Bombardment Operational Training 17th Bombardment Training 18th Replacement 21st Bombardment 46th Bombardment Operational Training 58th Bombardment 73rd Bombardment 315th Bombardment 316th Bombardment Groups Bombardment 2nd Bombardment 6th Bombardment 7th Bombardment 9th Bombardment 12th Bombardment 16th Bombardment 17th Bombardment 19th Bombardment 25th Bombardment 29th Bombardment 34th Bombardment 39th Bombardment 40th Bombardment 42nd Bombardment 46th Bombardment 47th Bombardment 48th Bombardment 85th Bombardment 86th Bombardment 86th Bombardment 88th Bombardment 94th Bombardment 95th Bombardment 96th Bombardment 99th Bombardment 100th Bombardment 301st Bombardment 302nd Bombardment 303rd Bombardment 304th Bombardment 305th Bombardment 306th Bombardment 307th Bombardment 308th Bombardment 312th Bombardment 330th Bombardment 331st Bombardment 333rd Bombardment 346th Bombardment 351st Bombardment 376th Bombardment 379th Bombardment 381st Bombardment 382nd Bombardment 383rd Bombardment 384th Bombardment 385th Bombardment 388th Bombardment 390th Bombardment 393rd Bombardment 395th Bombardment 396th Bombardment 398th Bombardment 399th Bombardment 400th Bombardment 401st Bombardment 407th Bombardment 415th Bombardment 418th Bombardment 444th Bombardment 445th Bombardment 446th Bombardment 447th Bombardment 448th Bombardment 449th Bombardment 450th Bombardment 451st Bombardment 452nd Bombardment 453rd Bombardment 454th Bombardment 455th Bombardment 456th Bombardment 457th Bombardment 458th Bombardment 459th Bombardment 460th Bombardment 461st Bombardment 462nd Bombardment 464th Bombardment 467th Bombardment 468th Bombardment 469th Bombardment 470th Bombardment 471st Bombardment 472nd Bombardment 484th Bombardment 485th Bombardment 486th Bombardment 487th Bombardment 488th Bombardment 489th Bombardment 490th Bombardment 491st Bombardment 493rd Bombardment 494th Bombardment 497th Bombardment 498th Bombardment 499th Bombardment 500th Bombardment 501st Bombardment 502nd Bombardment 504th Bombardment 505th Bombardment 509th Composite Fighter 20th Fighter 54th Fighter 84th Fighter 85th Fighter 507th Fighter 508th Fighter Reconnaissance 2nd Reconnaissance 3rd Reconnaissance 4th Reconnaissance 5th Reconnaissance 6th Reconnaissance 7th Reconnaissance 8th Reconnaissance 71st Reconnaissance 77th Reconnaissance Troop Carrier 443nd Troop Carrier
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

v t e United States Army Air Forces Third Air Force in World War II
Units	Commands II Air Support Command III Air Support Command III Bomber Command III Fighter Command III Reconnaissance Command III Tactical Air Command Divisions III Tactical Air Division Wings 8th Fighter Wing 9th Fighter Wing 40th Bombardment Wing Groups Air Commando 2nd Air Commando 3rd Air Commando Bombardment 3rd Bombardment 12th Bombardment 17th Bombardment 21st Bombardment 29th Bombardment 30th Bombardment Group 38th Bombardment 44th Bombardment 46th Bombardment 47th Bombardment 85th Bombardment 88th Bombardment 90th Bombardment 91st Bombardment 92nd Bombardment 93rd Bombardment 94th Bombardment 95th Bombardment 97th Bombardment 98th Bombardment 99th Bombardment 100th Bombardment 309th Bombardment 310th Bombardment 312th Bombardment 319th Bombardment 320th Bombardment 321st Bombardment 322d Bombardment 323d Bombardment 335th Bombardment 336th Bombardment 340th Bombardment 344th Bombardment 345th Bombardment 386th Bombardment 387th Bombardment 391st Bombardment 394th Bombardment 396th Bombardment 397th Bombardment 409th Bombardment 410th Bombardment 411th Bombardment 416th Bombardment 417th Bombardment 418th Bombardment 451st Bombardment 454th Bombardment 463rd Bombardment 483rd Bombardment 488th Bombardment Fighter 20th Fighter 31st Fighter 49th Fighter 50th Fighter 53rd Fighter 54th Fighter 56th Fighter 59th Fighter 79th Fighter 80th Fighter 81st Fighter 84th Fighter 85th Fighter 311th Fighter 332nd Fighter 337th Fighter 338th Fighter 339th Fighter 361st Fighter 369th Fighter 372nd Fighter 404th Fighter 405th Fighter 408th Fighter 414th Fighter 506th Fighter Fighter-Bomber 27th Fighter-Bomber 48th Fighter-Bomber 86th Fighter-Bomber 406th Fighter-Bomber 407th Fighter-Bomber Reconnaissance 2d Reconnaissance 9th Reconnaissance 10th Reconnaissance 26th Reconnaissance 65th Reconnaissance 67th Reconnaissance 68th Reconnaissance 69th Reconnaissance 70th Reconnaissance 75th Reconnaissance 77th Reconnaissance 423d Reconnaissance 424th Reconnaissance 426th Reconnaissance
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

v t e USAAF Eleventh Air Force in World War II
Previously: Alaskan Air Force (1941-1942)
Bases	Combat airfields Adak/Davis Alexai Point Amchitka Elmendorf Fort Glenn Fort Morrow Fort Randall Shemya Support airfields Annette Island Cordova Gakona Juneau Kiska Ogliuga Island Yakutat Air Transport Command Northwest Staging Route (xfr to 11AF 1945) Bethel Big Delta Galena Gambell Ladd McGrath Marks Mile 26 Moses Point Naknek Northway Tanacross
Units	Commands XI Bomber XI Fighter Groups Bombardment 28th Bombardment Fighter 343d Fighter
United States Army Air Forces First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth Ninth Tenth Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth Fourteenth Fifteenth Twentieth

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