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519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

{{Use American English|date=July 2015}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Infobox military unit

|unit_name= 519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron

|image=North American F-86L Sabre, USA - Air Force AN1025793.jpg

|image_size=300

|caption=F-86D Sabre as flown by the squadron

|dates=1943–1944; 1954–1955

|country={{USA}}

|branch={{air force|USA}}

|type=

|role=Fighter-Interceptor

|size=

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}}

The 519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 521st Air Defense Group at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa, where it was inactivated on 18 August 1955. The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 637th Bombardment Squadron, a dive bomber unit, but was disbanded before participating in combat in a general reorganization of Army Air Forces training units. It was reconstituted during the Cold War as a fighter interceptor unit supporting the air defense of the United States.

History

=World War II=

File:A-24 diving.jpg

The squadron was activated in April 1943 as the 637th Bombardment Squadron at Key Field, Mississippi, as one of the original squadrons of the 408th Bombardment Group.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 623–624Maurer, Combat Units, p. 294 In August, along with other Army Air Forces (AAF) single engine dive bomber units, it became a fighter-bomber unit as the 519th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. The squadron did not receive aircraft to begin training until October, after it had moved to Drew Field, Florida. It served as an operational training unit with various aircraft, providing cadres to "satellite groups" and as a replacement training unit, training individual pilots.See Craven & Cate, Introduction, p. xxxvi

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.Goss, p. 75 In this reorganization the squadron was disbanded in 1944 as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system. It was replaced, along with other units at Woodward Army Air Field, by the 267th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station, Fighter) in a reorganization of the AAF in which all units not programmed for deployment overseas were replaced by AAF Base Units to free up manpower for assignment overseas.{{cite web|url=http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/179/726.xml|title=Abstract, History Woodward Army Air Field, Apr 1944|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=2 June 2012}}

=Cold War air defense=

During the Cold War the squadron was reconstituted, redesignated as the 519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and activated at Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa in December 1954, where it was assigned to the 521st Air Defense Group.Cornett & Johnson, p. 83 The squadron replaced the 87th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which moved to England from Sioux City.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 299–300 At Sioux City, the squadron flew airborne intercept radar equipped and Mighty Mouse rocket armed North American F-86D Sabre aircraft.Cornett & Johnson, p.128

The 521st Group was inactivated and replaced by the 53d Fighter Group (Air Defense)Maurer, Combat Units, p. 115 in 1955 as part of Air Defense Command's Project Arrow, which was designed to reestablish the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars.Buss, Sturm, Volan, & McMullen, p.6 The squadron was inactivated along with the group and its equipment and personnel were transferred to the 13th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was simultaneously activated.Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 73

Lineage

  • Constituted as the 637th Bombardment Squadron (Dive) on 23 March 1943

: Activated on 5 April 1943

: Redesignated 519th Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 10 August 1943

: Disbanded on 1 April 1944

  • Reconstituted and redesignated 519th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 4 November 1954

: Activated on 8 December 1954

: Inactivated on 18 August 1955

=Assignments=

  • 408th Bombardment Group (later 408th Fighter-Bomber Group), 5 April 1943 – 1 April 1944
  • 521st Air Defense Group, 8 December 1954 – 18 August 1955

=Stations=

  • Key Field, Mississippi, 5 April 1943
  • Drew Field, Florida, 24 September 1943
  • Abilene Army Air Field, Texas, 10 November 1943
  • DeRidder Army Air Base, Louisiana, 11 February 1944
  • Woodward Army Air Field, Oklahoma, 26 March – 1 April 1944
  • Sioux City Municipal Airport, Iowa, 8 December 1954 – 18 August 1955

=Aircraft=

References

=Notes=

{{Reflist}}

=Bibliography=

{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}

  • 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)
  • {{cite book|last1=Cornett|first1=Lloyd H|last2=Johnson|first2=Mildred W.|title=A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization, 1946–1980|url=http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf|access-date=23 March 2012|year=1980|publisher=Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center|location=Peterson AFB, CO|archive-date=23 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123115752/http://www.usafpatches.com/pubs/handbookofadcorg.pdf|url-status=dead}}
  • {{cite book|editor1-last=Craven|editor1-first=Wesley F.|editor2-last=Cate|editor2-first=James L.|title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=VI, Men & Planes|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, Illinois|oclc=704158|lccn=48003657}}

:: {{cite book|last=Goss|first=William A.|editor1-last=Craven|editor1-first=Wesley F.|editor2-last=Cate|editor2-first=James L.|url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329890/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-012.pdf|access-date=17 December 2016|title=The Army Air Forces in World War II|volume=VI, Men & Planes|year=1955|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|oclc=704158|lccn=48003657|chapter=The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF}}

  • {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|orig-year= 1961|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180735/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= 20 December 2016|edition=reprint|year=1983|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-02-1|lccn=61060979}}
  • {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url=http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220180455/http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 December 2016|edition=reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}

; Further reading

  • {{cite journal|title=ADCOM's Fighter Interceptor Squadrons|journal=The Interceptor|date=January 1979|publisher=Aerospace Defense Command|volume=21|issue=1|pages=5–11, 26–31, 40–45, 54–59}}

{{Aerospace Defense Command|state=collapsed}}

519

Category:Aerospace Defense Command units

Category:Military units and formations established in 1954

Category:Military units and formations of the Cold War