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512th Fighter Squadron
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The 512th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 86th Fighter Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where it was inactivated September 1994.
512th Fighter Squadron | |
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Active | 1943–1946; 1952–1959; 1976–1994 |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Role | Fighter |
Nickname(s) | Dragons |
Motto(s) | Vigilare pro Pace (Latin for 'On Guard for Peace') (after 1955)[1] |
Engagements | European Theater of Operations |
Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
Insignia | |
Patch with 512th Fighter Squadron emblem[lower-alpha 2][1] | ![]() |
Patch with 512th Squadron emblem (1952–1955) | ![]() |
512th Fighter Squadron emblem (World War II)[2] | ![]() |
World War II fuselage code[2] | L3 |
The squadron was first activated as the 628th Bombardment Squadron in 1943. While retaining its mission as a ground attack unit, it became the 512th Fighter-Bomber Squadron a few months after activating. After training in the United States, it moved to the European Theater of Operations in the spring of 1944. It entered combat soon thereafter, and following D-Day, moved to the continent of Europe, where it gave close air support to American ground forces advancing across Europe. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its actions during the war. Following V-E Day, the squadron served in the Army of Occupation until 1946, when it was inactivated and its personnel and equipment transferred to another unit.
The squadron was reactivated in 1952, when it replaced an Air National Guard unit that had been mobilized for the Korean War. The following year it assumed an air defense mission and continued with that mission until inactivated in 1959.
The squadron was reactivated as the 512th Tactical Fighter Squadron in 1976 and served in that role until 1994, when it transferred its fighters to Aviano Air Base, as its parent wing became an airlift unit.