335th Fighter Squadron

335th Fighter Squadron P-51D[note 1]

In 1942, the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons were turned over to the United States Army Air Forces, with No. 121 Squadron being constituted as the 335th Fighter Squadron on 22 August, activated on 12 September and the same day assigned to the 4th Fighter Group of the VIII Fighter Command. Coming into USAAF service, the squadron was re-equipped with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and later North American P-51 Mustangs. They destroyed 262 enemy aircraft – 165 in the air and 97 on the ground.

They remained with the group until they were returned to the United States and inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 10 November 1945.

After less than a year, the 335th was reactivated on 9 September 1946 at Selfridge Field, Michigan, and has remained on active duty since. In 1947, the squadron was redesignated as the 335th Fighter Squadron, Jet Propelled, as it received the new Lockheed P-80 Shooting Stars.

They flew out of Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, until 1949, when they moved to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia and received the North American F-86 Sabre.

335th FIS F-86Fs over North Korea[note 2]

On 10 November 1950 they took their Sarbes to Korea as the 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the Fifth Air Force. By the end of the Korean War, the 335th led all squadrons with 218.5 kills (for around forty losses) and had become a part of the "MiG Killer" legend with 12 aces.

The 335th remained in the Far East until 8 December 1957, when they moved to their current base at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, and converted to the North American F-100 Super Sabre.

In May 1958, the squadron deployed to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, tasked with operational testing of the new Republic F-105 Thunderchief for the next three years. In May 1959, the 335th became the first squadron in the Air Force to receive the F-105 Thunderchief, and the transition from F-100s to F-105s began. The squadron returned to Seymour Johnson AFB in November 1961.

Two 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-105B Thunderchiefs[note 3]

The squadron saw action in Southeast Asia in November 1965, flying the F-105 out of Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. In 1969, the 335th transitioned to the airframe its aircrew would fly for the next twenty-three years—the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II; later this year, they briefly deployed to South Korea.

In 1972, the squadron again saw action in Vietnam, from July to December, flying out of Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.

Later in the 1970s, they became the first operational squadron to qualify with the GBU-15 guided bomb, and in doing so, exceeded 100,000 consecutive accident-free hours. They deployed briefly to Ramstein Air Base, Germany in 1978 and 1979, for a month each time.

On 1 March 1990, in conjunction with the fifty-first change of command, the squadron's final F-4 sortie and first McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle sortie were flown. The 335th was the second fighter squadron in the Air Force to receive the Strike Eagle.

F-15Es from the 4th FW parked during Operation Desert Shield.

On 27 December 1990, the 335th deployed twenty-four F-15Es along with support personnel and equipment to Al Kharj Air Base in central Saudi Arabia. On the night of 16 January 1991, the 335th participated in the initial assault on Iraq, hitting communications, power networks, and airfields around Baghdad. The 335th made aerial warfare history by downing an Iraqi helicopter in the air using a laser-guided bomb. During the war, the squadron flew 1,097 combat missions over Iraq and occupied Kuwait, dropping over 4.8 million pounds of ordnance.[2]

After the war, the 335th continued to fly combat air patrol missions over Iraq and Kuwait until relieved by the 334th Fighter Squadron, departing on 24 June 1991. Since then, the 335th has returned to Southwest Asia several times; three times to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and twice to Doha, Qatar, as an Air Expeditionary Force. On 13 January 1993, the ten F-15Es from the 335th took part in a night strike on Air Defence targets inside Southern Iraq as part of Operation Southern Watch.[3] The AEF-III deployment in 1996 was the first for an Air Force unit to Doha after the Desert Storm deployment of the 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron's F-16's during 1990–1991.

In January 2002, the 335th deployed to Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait in support of Southern Watch and Operation Enduring Freedom. 12 F-15Es deployed, accomplishing 500 sorties comprising 3,000 flying hours. During this time the 335th dropped almost 300 laser guided and dumb bombs, and expended 1200 rounds of 20mm ammunition. The 335th received numerous awards and accolades from Operation Enduring Freedom; four Silver Stars were awarded as well as eight Distinguished Flying Crosses.

In February 2003 the 335th again deployed to Southwest Asia for Operation Iraqi Freedom. During Iraqi Freedom and Operation Southern Watch the squadron deployed 24 F-15Es, and flew 1,500 sorties, totaling 7,000 flying hours. They dropped over 1 million pounds of precision and non-precision munitions on numerous targets such as key Iraqi leadership, command and control bunkers, artillery Republican Guard units and many others.

F-15E serial number 89-0487, known as "America's Aircraft", has the most hours of any F-15 model (C, D, E), and it has 1 air to air kill (the only air-to-air kill by F-15Es).[4]

• 4th Fighter Group, 12 September 1942 – 10 November 1945
• 4th Fighter Group (later 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group, 4th Fighter-Bomber Group, 4th Fighter-Day Group), 9 September 1946
• 4th Fighter-Day Wing (later 4th Tactical Fighter Wing), 8 December 1957

Attached to Tactical Air Command 1 May 1960 – 22 November 1961, Seventeenth Air Force c. 16 November 1964 – 21 February 1965, 6441 Tactical Fighter Wing 3 July–c. 6 November 1965, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing c. 6 November–6 December 1965, 354th Tactical Fighter Wing 4 December 1969 – c. 25 May 1970, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing 6 July–, 22 December 1972, 86th Tactical Fighter Wing 2 September–2 October 1978 and 28 August–29 September 1979, 4th Tactical Fighter Wing, Provisional, 27 December 1990 – 12 March 1991, 4404th Tactical Fighter Wing, Provisional after 13 March 1991)

• 4th Operations Group, 22 April 1991 – present (remained attached to 4404th Tactical Fighter Wing, Provisional until 27 June 1991)[1]

• 
  121 Eagle Squadron, RAF, 1940
• 
  335th Fighter Squadron Korea
• 
  USAF 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (ADC)

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL yes: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9. Retrieved 17 December 2016.