World War II The group was activated as the
54th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) at the beginning of 1941 at
Hamilton Field, California. with the
42d,
56th, and
57th Pursuit Squadrons assigned. It trained with
Curtiss P-36 Hawks and
Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, then moved to
Everett Army Air Field, where it served as a part of the
air defense force for the northwest Pacific coast during the first few months of
World War II. In early May 1943, the group began a split operation, with
headquarters and the 56th and 57th Fighter Squadrons relocating to
Bartow Army Air Field, As a result, in 1944 the group was disbanded as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system. while those at Hillsborough transferred their mission, equipment, and personnel to the 343d AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Fighter).
Cold War In 1955, the group was redesignated as the
54th Fighter Group (Air Defense) and activated at
Greater Pittsburgh Airport as part of ADC's Project Arrow, which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars. The group assumed host responsibilities for the USAF portion of the airport and was assigned a USAF Dispensary, Air Base Squadron and Materiel Squadron to fulfill this responsibility. Because Project Arrow was also intended to reunite fighter squadrons with their former groups, the
42d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was stationed at
O'Hare Airport moved to Pittsburgh and assumed the personnel and equipment of the 500th group's
71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, including its
radar equipped and
rocket armed
North American F-86 Sabres. The
squadron transitioned into
data link equipped F-86Ls in the spring of 1957 for interception control through the
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system and flew them until the group and squadron were inactivated in early 1958.
Present day The group was reactivated in March 2014 at
Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. It is an
F-16 Fighting Falcon training unit under the 49th Wing. ==Lineage==