29th Test and Evaluation Squadron
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The 29th Test and Evaluation Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 753d Test and Evaluation Group, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
29th Test and Evaluation Squadron | |
---|---|
Active | 1918–1919; 1923–1944; 1944–1946; 1953–1968; 1993–present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Role | Test and evaluation |
Part of | Air Combat Command |
Garrison/HQ | Eglin Air Force Base |
Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Air Force Organizational Excellence Award[1] |
Insignia | |
29th Training Systems Squadron emblem[lower-alpha 2][1] | |
29th Pursuit Squadron emblem[lower-alpha 3][2] |
The squadron is one of the oldest in the United States Air Force, its origins dating to October 1918, when its first predecessor was organized as the 29th Aero Squadron at Camp Knox, Kentucky, where it supported a field artillery unit until it was demobilized in September 1919.
The second predecessor of the unit was activated in October 1933 as the 29th Pursuit Squadron in the Panama Canal Zone. The two squadrons were consolidated in 1935. The squadron became the 29th Fighter Squadron in 1942 and served in the Caribbean area until 1944, when the diminishing threat in the area led to its withdrawal to the United States. In July 1944, it became one of the first jet fighter units in the Army Air Forces, when it began testing Bell P-59 Airacomets. It was inactivated in July 1946 and its personnel and equipment transferred to another unit.
In 1953, the squadron was reactivated as the 29th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, serving in an air defense role in California and Montana until inactivating in 1968. It was activated at Eglin in 1993 as the 29th Training Systems Squadron