World War II Training in the United States The
squadron was first organized as the
393d Fighter Squadron at
Hamilton Field, California, on 15 July 1943, as one of the original squadrons of the
367th Fighter Group. Several members of its initial
cadre were former
Flying Tigers with prior combat experience. It was not until late August, however, that the group received its first
Bell P-39 Airacobra. After building up its strength, the squadron moved in October to
Santa Rosa Army Air Field, California. The squadron staged through
Camp Shanks, and sailed for England aboard the . The "Drunken Duchess" docked at
Greenock, Scotland on 3 April and the group was transported by train to its airfield at
RAF Stoney Cross, England. Only members of the advance party had any experience flying the Lightning. These pilots had flown combat sorties with the
55th Fighter Group. The change from single engine to twin engine aircraft required considerable retraining for both pilots and ground crew. However, the lack of instrument training in the P-38 took its toll on the 393d as weather, not enemy action, caused the loss of pilots and airplanes. On 9 May, the squadron flew its first combat mission, a fighter sweep over
Alençon, France. For the remainer of the month, the unit flew fighter sweeps, bomber escort and
dive bombing, missions and suffered its first combat losses. On
D-Day and the next three days the squadron flew missions maintaining air cover over shipping carrying invasion troops. Shortly after the Normandy invasion, on 12 June, the 367th Group was selected to test the ability of the P-38 to carry a 2,000 lb bomb under each wing. The selected target was a
railroad yard, and results were mixed. However, on this mission, the squadron scored its first air-to-air victory when Lts James Pinkerton and James Mason combined to shoot down a
Messerschmitt Me 410 flying near the assigned target.
Ninth Air Force moved its medium bomber forces to bases closer to the Continent in July, so they would be able to strike targets near the expanding front in France. The
387th Bombardment Group was moved to Stoney Cross, forcing the 394th to vacate their station and move the short distance to
RAF Ibsley. From Ibsley the group struck railroads, marshaling yards, and trains to prevent enemy reinforcements from reaching the front during
Operation Cobra, the Allied breakthrough at
Saint-Lô in July 1944. Group headquarters shared
Beuzeville Airfield with the
371st Fighter Group, while the 393d Squadron was at
Cricqueville Airfield, As Allied forces moved forward across France the squadron began leap-frogging to new bases. In early September they relocated at
Peray Airfield, but moved again a week later to
Clastres Airfield. Juvincourt was a former Luftwaffe base with permanent facilities, in contrast to the advanced landing grounds where the squadron had been based since moving to France. The squadron attacked German strong points to aid the Allied push against the
Siegfried Line throughout the fall of 1944. Although senior German officers reached the underground bunkers and survived the attack, the group reduced the military complex to ruins, disrupting communications and the flow of intelligence at a critical time. During its combat tour, the squadron was credited with 22.5 air-to-air victories over enemy aircraft.
Return to the United States and inactivation All hostilities ceased
the following day, exactly one year after the squadron became operational. On 4 June, the 367th Group led a flyby for
General Weyland. However, ADC experienced difficulty under the existing
wing base organizational structure in deploying its fighter squadrons to best advantage. As a result, in February 1952 the 133d Group was inactivated and the squadron was reassigned to the
31st Air Division. The squadron was inactivated and returned to the control of the State of Minnesota on 1 December 1952. The 179th became the new group's flying squadron. The other squadrons assigned to the group were the 148th Material Squadron, 148th Air Bse Squadron and the 148th USAF Dispensary. The same day, the squadron assumed a 24-hour air defense
alert status at Duluth alongside the regular Air Force
11th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron.
65-0608 at Duluth Air National Guard Base, Minnesota, 1989. (This aircraft is today preserved at Duluth). In October 1983, the mission changed again and the 179th returned to air defense becoming the
179th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. The return to alert and air defense was accompanied by the McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II tactical fighter, which saw the ANG units take QRA responsibilities while the
526th TFS converted to the
General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon.
Post-Cold War , Iraq, on 20 March 2007. On 10 March 1990, the 179th FIS received the first variants of the F-16A Fighting Falcon air defense fighter (ADF) to take over from the F-4D Phantom II. The early F-16 markings included "Duluth" on a tail stripe as well as an image of the Big Dipper. The last flight of a 179th FIS F-4D was under taken by
65-0608 on 17 April 1990. On 17 March 1992, the 179th was renamed the
179th Fighter Squadron. A few years later, in October 1995, the unit was tasked with maintaining a detachment (Detachment 1, 148th Fighter Wing), which maintained alert status at
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Between April and July 2016, the 179th deployed to
Osan Air Base,
South Korea, as the 179th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, being replaced by the
157th Fighter Squadron. The 179th EFS deployed to Southwest Asia as part of
Operation Inherent Resolve between April and August 2018, flying nearly 3,500 hours across over 600 sorties. From 1 to 12 April 2019, the 179th FS deployed to
Leeuwarden Air Base in the
Netherlands to participate in
Exercise Frisian Flag 2019. ==Lineage==