415th Special Operations Squadron | |
|---|---|
 MC-130J Commando II taking off from theMelrose Range, NM | |
| Active | 1943–1947; 1970–1975; 1989–1993; 2011–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Special Operations Training |
| Part of | Air Education and Training Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Kirtland AFB, New Mexico |
| Engagements |  Mediterranean Theater of Operations[1]  1991 Gulf War (Defense of Saudi Arabia; Liberation of Kuwait)[2] |
| Decorations |  Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (2x)[2] |
| Insignia | |
| 415th Special Operations Squadron emblem[3](approved 19 April 1990)[2] |  |
| 415th Night Fighter Squadron emblem(approved 4 December 1943)[1] |  |
The415th Special Operations Squadron is aUnited States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the58th Operations Group atKirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The415th Night Fighter Squadron was formed in February 1943, and it carried out missions in theMediterranean Theatre of Operations, and then in northwestern Europe duringWorld War II. It was inactivated in 1947, with its personnel and aircraft being transferred to another squadron.
Reactivated in 2011, the squadron replaced the 58th Special Operations Wing, Detachment 1. Its mission is to train special operations personnel operating both theHC-130J Combat King II and theMC-130J Commando II.
DuringWorld War II, the415th Night Fighter Squadron was activated on 10 February 1943. At that time, the squadron was assigned to theArmy Air Forces School of Applied Tactics for training in the P-70 night fighter, a convertedDouglas A-20 Havoc medium bomber. That training included daylight and nighttime air interceptions,ground-controlled interception, navigation, and instrument flying.[4]
On 3 March 1943, the air echelon from the unit left Florida. Twenty days later, the echelon sailed on theRMSEmpress of Scotland, and arrived in England on 31 March. There, the pilots, engineers, and radar operators trained separately until May 1943, when all parts of the air echelon moved toRAF Ayr, Scotland, for training as a complete unit. The ground component moved from Florida on 22 April 1943 toCamp Kilmer, New Jersey, and it left there a week later on thetransport ship USAT "Shawnee" forNorth Africa. It arrived atOran, Algeria, on 11 May 1943 to begin working and training at the nearbyLa Senia Airfield. In June 1943, the ground component moved to Tunisia, where it worked with aRoyal Air Force night fighter squadron. The air echelon joined the ground troops in early July atMonastir Airfield, Tunisia.[4]
The 415th Squadron entered combat as a unit in July 1943, flying British-madeBristol Beaufighter aircraft. The squadron's pilots flew convoy patrols, night patrols, and interception scrambles. As its first important mission, the 415th squadron flew escort missions for theairborne invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The squadron was moved to Sicily in early September, and later to the mainland of Italy in December as the Allies continued gain ground on theAxis powers. In Italy, the squadron continued its patrols, and it flew night cover over theAnzio beachhead during January and February 1944.[4]
In July 1944, the squadron moved again to Corsica to take part in the pendingOperation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. This invasion occurred in August, and the 415th again flew night patrols covering the beachheads. After the Allied ground forces establishedbeachheads, the squadron moved into Southern France, where it supported theU.S 7th Army and theFrench 1st Army with night interception and anti-night-intruder sorties. The pilots also patrolled the lines at St. Die, and it dropped flares to light up targets for theartillery. Through April 1945, the squadron flew patrols and intruder missions, concentrating its attacks on enemy installations, supplies, communications, and troops.[4]
The 415th squadron took part in theAllied invasion of Germany, moving toBraunshardt Airfield, Germany, where it moved from the Beaufighter to the new American nightfighter, theNorthrop P-61 Black Widow. The squadron only flew a few missions in this new fighter before the war ended. With the Fall of Germany, the squadron became a part of theUnited States Air Forces in Europe army of occupation. It moved toAAF Station Nordholz, Germany, in October 1945, remaining there until February 1946, when it returned to the United States.[4]
When arriving atBolling Field, DC, the squadron returned without people and equipment, and then moved toShaw Field, South Carolina. The unit remained unmanned through July 1946, when new pilots with P-61s andNorth American B-25 Mitchells arrived. It resumed its training in night fighter techniques until May 1947, when the squadron was reassigned toAlaskan Air Command, and was stationed atAdak Army Air Field to defend theAleutian Islands. The squadron flew training patrols until being inactivated on 1 September 1947, with its personnel and aircraft being transferred to the449th Fighter Squadron (All Weather), upon inactivation.[4]
During the final phases of the War in Southeast Asia, the 415th was redesignated the415th Special Operations Training Squadron, as a component of the1st Special Operations Wing to replace the 4413th Combat Crew Training Squadron atHurlburt Field, Florida.[4]
There, the squadron provided special operations combat training for aircrews in theAC-119G Shadow gunship. In early 1971, the unit additionally acquiredAC-130H Spectre gunships. It also gave numerous displays and firepower demonstrations of its capabilities. In October 1972, the squadron transferred its AC-119s to theRepublic of Vietnam Air Force. However, the 415th squadron continued its training mission until 30 June 1975 when it was inactivated a second time.[4]
Tactical Air Command activated the "I-Unit" atGroom Lake, Nevada as a classified unit on 5 October 1979. "I-Unit" was component of Tactical Air Command's A-Unit. It began receiving full-scale development F-117A stealth fighters fromLockheed Aircraft for testing. The unit was redesignated the 4450th Tactical Squadron on 11 July 1981 as part of the 4450th Tactical Group. The squadron moved toTonopah Test Range Airport on 28 October 1983, performing training missions with the F-117A in a clandestine environment. All Tonopah training flights were conducted at night under the cover of darkness until late 1988. On 10 November 1988, theU.S. Air Force brought the F-117A from behind a "black veil" by publicly acknowledging its existence, but the USAF provided few details about it. The official confirmation of the existence of the F-117A, however, had little impact on Tonopah operations. Pilots began occasionally flying the F-117A during the day, but personnel were still ferried to and from work each Monday and Friday fromNellis Air Force Base. Everyone associated with the project was still forbidden to talk about what they did for a living, and the program remained shrouded in secrecy.[5]
The 4450th Tactical Group was inactivated on 5 October 1989, and the 4450th Squadron transferred its mission, personnel and F-117s to the415th Tactical Fighter Squadron as the37th Tactical Fighter Wing replaced the 4450th Group, and the 415th became one of two operational F-117A Stealth Fighter squadrons.[4]
On 19 December 1989, just over two months after being reactivated, the F-117 was deployed into combat for the first time. This was inOperation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama intended to dislodge and arrest GeneralManuel Noriega. At the beginning of the invasion, six F-117As flew to Panama from Tonopah. Their mission was to drop 2000-pound bombs near the Panama Defense Forces barracks atRio Hato. The purpose of these bomb drops was to stun and disorient the PDF troops living there so that the barracks could be stormed and the troops captured with minimal resistance and casualties. The pilots were instructed to drop their bombs no closer than 50 meters from two separate PDF barracks buildings. On the night of 19 December, two lead F-117As each dropped a conventional 2000-pound bomb on the Rio Hato barracks.[6]
Less than a year later, in response to the Iraqiinvasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the 415th deployed toKing Khalid Air Base in the south-west ofSaudi Arabia, nearKhamis Mushait on 19 August 1990. On 17 January 1991, coalition forces began an air offensive to eject Iraqi troops from Kuwait. In the early morning hours, the F-117As of the 37th Wing initiated the air war against Iraq. Mission planners had assigned critical strategic Iraqi command and control installations to the F-117A, counting on the aircraft's ability to hit precisely at well-defended targets without being seen. Other vital targets included key communications centers, research and development facilities for nuclear and chemical weapons, plus hardened aircraft shelters on Iraqi airfields. On the first night of the war, an F-117A dropped a 2000-pound laser-guidedGBU-27 Paveway III bomb right through the roof of the general communications building in downtownBaghdad. In another attack on the communications building next to the Tigris River, another GBU-27 Paveway III was dropped through an air shaft in the center of the roof atop the building and blew out all four walls. During the first three weeks of the air offensive, F-117As obliterated many hardened targets with unprecedented precision. The 37th TFW flew 1271 combat sorties and maintained an 85.5 percentmission-capable rate. The 43 F-117As of the 37th Wing dropped more than 2,000 tons of precision ordnance and attacked some 40 percent of the high-value targets that were struck by the Coalition forces. Not one F-117A was hit, shot down, or lost to mechanical failure. There is no evidence that the F-117A was ever detected or tracked by Iraqi radar installations, either ground or airborne. The F-117's concealment, deception, and evasiveness proved that it could survive in the most hostile of environments, and its laser-guided bombs struck with extreme accuracy.[6]
Most of the F-117As deployed to Saudi Arabia returned home to Tonopah in early April 1991, although a few remained as part of the post-Desert Storm task force in Southwest Asia. After Desert Storm, the 415th was assigned to the new37th Operations Group, being redesignated the415th Fighter Squadron as part of the wing's adoption of the Air Force Objective Wing organization.[6]
In 1992, the F-117As were moved toHolloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. the 37th Fighter Wing and its subordinate organizations were inactivated and the aircraft, equipment, personnel, and mission of the squadron were transferred to the7th Fighter Squadron of the49th Operations Group at Holloman.[6]
Air Education and Training Command had established Detachment 1 of the58th Special Operations Wing atKirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico to conduct advanced crew training for theMC-130J Commando II. This operation grew to a squadron sized element and on 22 September 2011, the 415th, now the415th Special Operations Squadron, was activated[2] to assume its mission, personnel and equipment.
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency<ref
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Tactical Air Command (TAC) | |||||||
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