The 324th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

unit. Its last assignment was with the 316th Air Division, stationed at Sidi Slimane Air Base,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. It was inactivated on 8 March 1960.

History

World War II

Activated in mid-1942 as an operational training unit, primarily for

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s under

I Fighter Command I Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces intermediate command responsible for command and control of the fighter operations within the First Air Force during World War II. It was initially established in June 1941 as the 1st Inter ...

. Began replacement training in February 1944, inactivated in April when P-47 Thunderbolt training ended.

Air defense

Reactivated as an

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

interceptor squadron in July 1955 at

Westover Air Force Base Westover may refer to: People *Al Westover (born 1954), American professional basketball player in Australia *Arthur Westover (1864–1935), Canadian sport shooter and 1908 Olympian *Charles Westover (1934–1990), better known as Del Shannon, Amer ...

, Massachusetts flying

North American F-86D Sabre The North American F-86D/K/L Sabre (initially known as the YF-95 and widely known informally as the "Sabre Dog") is an American transonic jet interceptor aircraft, interceptor. Developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s, it was ...

s, performing an

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

mission over

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and the New England area. In 1957 began re-equipping with the North American F-86L Sabre, an improved version of the F-86D which incorporated

data link A data link is a means of telecommunications link, connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a t ...

to interface with the

Semi Automatic Ground Environment The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) was a system of mainframe computer, large computers and associated computer network, networking equipment that coordinated data from many radar sites and processed it to produce a single unified image ...

computer-controlled direction system for intercepts. The service of the F-86L was destined to be quite brief, since by the time the last F-86L conversion was delivered, the type was already being phased out in favor of supersonic interceptors. Reassigned to the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

Sixteenth Air Force The Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) (16 AF) is a United States Air Force (USAF) organization responsible for information warfare, which encompasses intelligence gathering and analysis, surveillance, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and ele ...

in 1958, deployed to Morocco. Performed air defense over SAC

Boeing B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...

Operation Reflex bases. Inactivated in Morocco with SAC's withdrawal from North African bases in 1960.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 324th Fighter Squadron on 24 June 1942 : Activated on 25 August 1942 : Disbanded on 10 April 1944 * Reconstituted and redesignated 324th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 8 July 1955 : Activated on 18 October 1955 : Discontinued on 8 March 1960

Assignments

* 327th Fighter Group, 25 August 1942 – 10 April 1944 * 4707th Air Defense Wing, 18 October 1955 * 4622d Air Defense Wing (later Boston Air Defense Sector), 18 October 1956 * 4729th Air Defense Group, 8 July 1957 * Boston Air Defense Sector, 25 June 1958 * 316th Air Division, 1 July 1958 – 8 March 1960

Stations

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People and fictional characters *Mitchell (surname), including lists of both people and fictional characters *Mitchell (given name), lists of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Ca ...

, New York, 25 August 1942 *

Bolling Field The origins of the surname Bolling: English language, English: from a nickname for someone with close-cropped hair or a large head, Middle English bolling "pollard", or for a heavy drinker, from Middle English bolling "excessive drinking". German ...

, District of Columbia, 25 August 1942 *

Richmond Army Air Base Richmond International Airport is a joint civil-military airport in Sandston, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community (in Henrico County). The airport is about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of downtown Richmond, the capital of the ...

, Virginia, 20 September 1942 – 10 April 1944 * Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, 18 October 1955 – 25 June 1958 * Sidi Slimane Air Base, Morocco, 1 July 1958 – 8 March 1960

Aircraft

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

, 1942–1943 * Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 1943–1944 * North American F-86D Sabre, 1955–1957 * North American F-86L Sabre, 1957–1960Cornett & Johnson, p. 125

References

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) * * * * {{USAAF 1st Air Force World War II

324 __NOTOC__ Year 324 ( CCCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday in the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crispus and Constantinus (or, less frequently, year 1077 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominati ...

Military units and formations established in 1942