549th Combat Training Squadron
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The 549th Combat Training Squadron is a non-flying United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 57th Operations Group, and is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. It conducts air support and air interdiction sorties in "Green Flag (West)" exercises to train USAF fighter pilots and the aerospace power component to the US Army's brigade combat training.
549th Combat Training Squadron | |
---|---|
Active | 1944–1947; 1969-1988; 1991 – present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Type | Squadron |
Role | Combat Training |
Part of | 57th Operations Group |
Garrison/HQ | Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada |
Engagements | |
Decorations | |
Insignia | |
Emblem of the 549th Combat Training Squadron (approved 17 July 1944)[1] |
The unit was originally formed as the 549th 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 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 during the Vietnam War as a training unit of the 1st Special Operations Wing, training USAF and South Vietnamese forward air controllers to direct tactical fighter bombers in attacks on communist forces. After the end of American involvement in Southeast Asia, it continued the training mission until 1988.