518th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

World War II

The squadron was activated in April 1943 as the 636th Bombardment Squadron at Key Field, Mississippi, as one of the original squadrons of the 408th Bombardment Group. In August, along with other Army Air Forces (AAF) single engine dive bomber units, it became a fighter-bomber unit, and was redesignated as the 518th Fighter-Bomber Squadron.

However, the AAF was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each AAF base was organized into a separate numbered unit. In this reorganization the squadron was disbanded in 1944 as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system.

Cold War air defense

During the Cold War the squadron was reconstituted, redesignated as the 518th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and activated at George Air Force Base, California in January 1955, where it was assigned to the 27th Air Division. The squadron was inactivated and replaced by the 329th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in 1955 as part of Air Defense Command's Project Arrow, which was designed to reestablish the fighter units that had compiled memorable records in the two world wars. The squadron was again active at Klamath Falls Airport, Oregon from 1956 to 1959.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 636th Bombardment Squadron (Dive) on 23 March 1943 : Activated on 5 April 1943 : Redesignated 518th Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 10 August 1943 : Disbanded on 1 April 1944
• Reconstituted and redesignated 518th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 4 November 1954 : Activated on 8 January 1955 : Inactivated on 18 August 1955
• Activated on 8 June 1956 : Inactivated on 1 July 1959

Assignments

• 408th Bombardment Group (later 408th Fighter-Bomber Group), 5 April 1943 – 1 April 1944
• 27th Air Division, 8 January – 18 August 1955
• 408th Fighter Group, 8 June 1956 – 1 July 1959

Stations

• Key Field, Mississippi, 5 April 1943
• Drew Field, Florida, 22 September 1943
• Abilene Army Air Field, Texas, 10 November 1943
• DeRidder Army Air Base, Louisiana, 12 February 1944
• Woodward Army Air Field, Oklahoma, 24 March – 1 April 1944
• George Air Force Base, California, 8 January – 18 August 1955
• Klamath Falls Airport, Oregon, 8 June 1956 – 1 July 1959

Aircraft

• Douglas A-24 Banshee, 1943–1944
• North American A-36 Apache, 1943–1944
• Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, 1943–1944
• Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 1943–1944
• Cessna UC-78, 1943–1944
• North American F-86D Sabre, 1955

References

Notes

; Explanatory notes

; Citations

Bibliography

• Buss, Lydus H.(ed), Sturm, Thomas A., Volan, Denys, and McMullen, Richard F., History of Continental Air Defense Command and Air Defense Command July to December 1955, Directorate of Historical Services, Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, (1956)

::

; Further reading

References

1. Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 623
2. Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 294
3. Goss, p. 75
4. Buss, Sturm, Volan, & McMullen, p.6