Active 1942-1944; 1954-1957 Role Fighter-Bomber | Country United States | |
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Branch United States Air Force | ||
The 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was active during World War II as the 472d Bombardment Squadron, a component of the 334th Bombardment Group at Greenville Army Air Base, South Carolina, where it was disbanded in 1944.
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The 472d Fighter-Bomber Squadron was active in the Air Force Reserve at Selfridge Air Force Base and Willow Run Airport, where it was inactivated in 1957.
In 1985 the United States Air Force consolidated the two squadrons. However the unit has not been active since consolidation,
World War II
The 472d Bombardment Squadron was activated in the summer of 1942 as one of the four original squadrons of the 334th Bombardment Group at Greenville AAB, South Carolina. It operated as a North American B-25 Mitchell replacement training unit. Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters. However, the Army Air Forces found 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. This resulted in the 471st, along with other units at Greenville, being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 330th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Medium, Bombardment).
Reserve Cold War Operations
The 472d Fighter-Bomber Squadron was activated in 1954 in the 439th Fighter-Bomber Group when it replaced the 92d Troop Carrier Squadron in the Air Force Reserve. Continental Air Command was unable to rename the 92d as a fighter-bomber unit because the 92d Fighter-Bomber Squadron was an active USAF unit. The squadron was originally equipped with Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars, but re-equipped with Republic F-84 Thunderjets in 1956. It also operated a variety of trainer and transport aircraft. The 472d was inactivated in late 1957 when reserve flying operations at Willow Run Airport terminated.
The two squadrons were consolidated in 1985 as the 472d Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, but have never been active since consolidation,