548th Combat Training Squadron
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The 548th Combat Training Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron assigned to the 57th Operations Group at Fort Johnson, Louisiana. It is geographically separated from the 57th, whose headquarters are at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. At Fort Johnson, the squadron controls multi-service close air support and forward air control aircraft and tactical air control assets in combat exercises with the US Army Joint Readiness Training Center.
548th Combat Training Squadron | |
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Active | 1944–1945; 1969–1973; 1994 – present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Type | Squadron |
Role | Combat Training |
Part of | 57th Operations Group |
Garrison/HQ | Fort Johnson, Louisiana |
Engagements |
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Decorations |
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Insignia | |
548th Combat Training Squadron emblem (approved 7 August 1944)[1] |
The unit was originally formed as the 548th Night Fighter Squadron in 1944. After training, it was deployed to Seventh Air Force and ordered to the Mariana Islands in the Central Pacific. Its mission was the air defense of Twentieth Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress airfields on Saipan and also on Iwo Jima. It also provided night escort for the B-29s in case of Japanese interceptor attacks. It later served on Okinawa where it was inactivated in December 1945.
The squadron was reactivated in 1969 during the Vietnam War as part of the 1st Air Commando Wing. Its mission was to train Republic of Vietnam Air Force aircrews in the operation of C-47 Skytrain "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunship operations to interdict North Vietnamese supply convoys and personnel movements along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.[dubious – discuss] The squadron was inactivated in 1973 as part of the withdrawal of United States forces from the Vietnam War.