World War II The squadron was initially activated at
Selfridge Field, Michigan in January 1941 as the
10th Pursuit Squadron, one of the three original squadrons of the
50th Pursuit Group. It was established under the
Northeast Air District as a pursuit squadron, and initially equipped with second-line aircraft. It transferred to Southeast Air District (later
Third Air Force) in late 1941 and re-equipped with
Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. The squadron trained in the southeast until being transferred to the
Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics in Florida, where it served as a test and demonstration unit. The squadron was activated at
Clovis Air Force Base, New Mexico on 1 January 1953 and assumed the personnel and
North American F-86H Sabres of the
120th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, a
Colorado Air National Guard squadron that had been federalized for the Korean War and was being returned to state control. The unit deployed to
West Germany and assigned to
Hahn Air Base as a
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) fighter squadron. It moved briefly to France in 1956, but returned to West Germany in 1959 and flew defensive missions in the F-100, F-4 and F-16 as part of the NATO tactical air forces. In late Dec 1990 the squadron deployed to
Southwest Asia, assigned to the 363rd Tactical Fighter Wing (Provisional) from January to May 1991, and flew combat missions during
Operation Desert Storm. After returning to Hahn, squadron pilots spent the last summer in Germany flying unit aircraft back across the North Atlantic Ocean to gaining Air National Guard units in preparation for the wing / squadron inactivation in Sep 1991.
Flight test The squadron was reactivated at
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma in March 1994 as a testing and checkout squadron for supported aircraft after depot-level maintenance prior to the aircraft being returned to active service. ==Lineage==