The 98th 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

New York Air Defense Sector The Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS) is a United States Air Force unit of Air Combat Command (ACC), permanently assigned to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). A joint, bi-national military organization, EADS is composed of U ...

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 ...

stationed at

Suffolk County Air Force Base Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base is an air defense military installation located at civilian public-use Francis S. Gabreski Airport, located just north of Westhampton Beach, New York. It is currently the home base of the New York Ai ...

, New York, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1968.

History

World War II

It was activated in the summer of 1942 as part of

III Fighter Command The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946. History Background GHQ Air Force (GHQ, AF) had been established with two major comba ...

. It became a

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 ...

replacement training unit (RTU). It was inactivated on 1 May 1944 as part of a reorganization of training units.

Air Defense Command

It was reactivated in 1953 as part of

as an air defense squadron, equipped with

Northrop F-89D Scorpion The Northrop F-89 Scorpion is an all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the first jet-powered aircraft to be designed for the interceptor role f ...

interceptors, and assigned to

Dover Air Force Base Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force (USAF) base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. The 436th Airlift Wing is the host wing, and runs the bu ...

, Delaware with a mission for the air defense of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Delaware-Maryland-Virginia region. On 22 October 1962, before President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

told Americans that missiles were in place in Cuba, the squadron dispersed four of its force, equipped with nuclear tipped missiles to

Atlantic City Airport Atlantic City International Airport is a shared civil-military airport northwest of central Atlantic City, New Jersey, in Egg Harbor Township, the Pomona section of Galloway Township and in Hamilton Township. The airport is accessible via ...

and 4 each to other airports on the east coast at the start of the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

.''NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis'', Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO , 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996). p. 16 These planes returned to Dover after the crisis. The squadron moved to

, New York in 1963 to become part of the New York City air defense force. It upgraded in 1959 to the new

McDonnell F-101B Voodoo The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo is a supersonic jet fighter designed and produced by the American McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. Development of the F-101 began in the late 1940s as a long-range bomber escort (then known as a penetration fighter) ...

and assigned alongside the F-101B interceptor was the F-101F operational and conversion trainer. The two-seat trainer version was equipped with dual controls, but carried the same armament as the F-101B and were fully combat-capable interceptors. It was inactivated in September 1968 as part of the drawdown of ADC interceptor bases, and the aircraft were passed along to the Air National Guard.

Lineage

* Constituted 98th Fighter Squadron on 16 July 1942 : Activated on 23 July 1942 : Disbanded on 1 May 1944 * Reconstituted and redesignated 98th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 24 October 1955 : Activated on 8 March 1956 : Inactivated on 30 September 1968

Assignments

: 337th Fighter Group, 23 July 1942 – 1 May 1944 *

: 4709th Air Defense Wing, 8 March 1956 : 4621st Air Defense Wing (later New York Air Defense Sector), 1 October 1956 : 4728th Air Defense Group, 8 February 1957 : New York Air Defense Sector, 1 July 1958 :

Washington Air Defense Sector The Washington Air Defense Sector (WaADS) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with the Air Defense Command (ADC) 26th Air Division, being stationed at Fort Lee Air Force Station (AFS), Virginia. It ...

, 1 February 1959 : New York Air Defense Sector, 1 July 1961 – 30 September 1968

Stations

* Morris Field, North Carolina, 23 July 1942 *

Drew Field Tampa International Airport is an international airport west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA)., effective May 15, 2025. The airp ...

, Florida, 7 August 1942 *

Sarasota Army Air Field Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

, Florida, 3 January 1943 – 1 May 1944 * Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, 8 March 1956 * Suffolk County Air Force Base, New York, 1 July 1963 – 30 September 1968

Aircraft

Bell P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by th ...

, 1943 *

Republic P-43 Lancer The Republic P-43 Lancer was a single-engine, all-metal, low-wing monoplane fighter aircraft built by Republic, first delivered to the United States Army Air Corps in 1940. A proposed development was the P-44 Rocket. While not a particularly out ...

, 1942 * Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, 1942–1944 * Northrop F-89D Scorpion, 1956 * Northrop F-89H Scorpion, 1956–1957 * Northrop F-89J Scorpion, 1957–1959 * McDonnell F-101B Voodoo, 1959–1968

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * McMullen, Richard F. (1964) "The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962-1964" ADC Historical Study No. 27, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, CO (Confidential, declassified 22 Mar 2000) * ''NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis'', Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996) * "ADCOM's Fighter Interceptor Squadrons". ''The Interceptor'' (January 1979) Aerospace Defense Command, (Volume 21, Number 1)

External links

{{USAAF 12th Air Force World War II 098 Military units and formations established in 1955 1955 establishments in the United States