548th Combat Training Squadron

The squadron was established on 23 March 1944 as the 548th Night Fighter Squadron at Salinas Army Air Base, California. It was part of the final group of dedicated night fighter interceptor squadrons formed by the Army Air Forces, being programmed to deploy to the Central Pacific. It was at Salinas that the squadron adopted its emblem, "Skopie" as in "radar-scope", that it still carries today. The squadron trained at various airfields in the San Joaquin Valley and was ready to deploy into combat by early September.[3]

548th NFS P-61A Black Widow 42-5609, "Bat outta Hell"

The squadron moved by train to Seattle, Washington, where it boarded the USS General W. F. Hase, bound for Honolulu, Hawaii. Arriving after a two-week crossing, it remained at Hickam Field, until its aircraft and equipment arrived in Hawaii. At Hickam, it was assigned to Seventh Air Force, and its P-61s were sent through the Hawaiian Air Depot to modify the aircraft for operations in the Pacific Theater. After being part of the defense forces of Hawaii for several weeks, a detachment was sent to Isely Airfield, Saipan, on 15 December to provide night interceptor coverage of the new bases on Saipan and Guam for the Twentieth Air Force, which was going to use the airfields to carry out very long range strategic bombing of the Japanese Home Islands with the new B-29 Superfortress.[3]

At the end of January 1945, the ground echelon of the squadron departed Hawaii, bound for newly captured Central Field, on Iwo Jima. Arriving in late February, the detachment on Saipan rejoined the squadron. The 548th was the first night-fighter squadron to arrive on Iwo Jima (on D+8). and even after its capture, Iwo Jima remained vulnerable to long range Japanese attacks, and its mission was to defend the new American airfields being built there.[3]

548th NFS Black Widows on the line at Central Field, Iwo Jima

A large percentage of the squadron's missions consisted of long-distance patrols over water, many of which involved interceptions of Japanese Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers. Its presence, although rarely shooting down any enemy aircraft, did cause the bombers to jettison their loads and beat a hasty retreat from the area. The squadron moved to Ie Shima on 12 June just 3 miles off the coast of Okinawa to provide night interceptor patrols over Okinawa. It finished out the war doing night penetration raids and weather observations to support the B-29s bombing the Japanese home islands. It was during this time that the squadron scored its first two "kills" of enemy aircraft on 21 June. Two more "kills" were scored on 14–15 August, the last two aerial victories by American pilots in the Pacific War.[3]

With the war over, the squadron's ground echelon were transferred to Occupied Japan to serve as part of the Army of Occupation in September, its aircraft being sent to storage depots on Okinawa and at Clark Field, Philippines. The 548th was inactivated as an administrative organization at Fort Lewis, Washington in December 1945.

AC-47 Gunship

The squadron was reactivated in October 1969 at England Air Force Base, Louisiana as the 548th Special Operations Training Squadron. Its mission was to train Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots and crews on the Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunship, which the United States was transferring to South Vietnamese control in the conflict. First configured in 1965, the AC-47 was equipped with three 7.62mm miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. Cruising at 120 knots in a 3,000-foot circular orbit over its target, the AC-47 could put a bullet into every square yard of a football field-sized target in 3 seconds. And, ammunition holding out, it could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours.[4]

The squadron trained Vietnamese crews on the Spooky until 1973 when it was inactivated with the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War and as part of the general inactivation of USAF special forces units.[4]

The squadron was again renamed, this time as the 548th Combat Training Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana on 1 July 1994. The squadron also had a detachment located at Fort Polk, Louisiana.[1] on 1 December 2010, the squadron and detachment "switched" as the Fort Polk element was expanded to become the squadron and the Barksdale element was reduced to detachment size.[5]

• Constituted as the 548th Night Fighter Squadron on 23 March 1944

Activated on 10 April 1944

Inactivated on 19 December 1945

• Redesignated 548th Special Operations Training Squadron on 22 August 1969
• Activated on 15 October 1969

Inactivated on 31 July 1973

• Redesignated 548th Combat Training Squadron on 24 June 1994
• Activated on 1 July 1994[1]

• Douglas P-70 Havoc, 1944
• Northrop P-61 Black Widow, 1944–1945
• Douglas C-47 Skytrooper, 1969–1973[1]
• Douglas AC-47 Spooky, 1969–1973[1]
• Douglas EC-47 Phyllis Ann, 1969–1973[1]

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

• Haas, Michael E.; Robinson, TSG Dale K. (1994). Air Commando! 1950–1975: Twenty-Five years at the Tip of the Spear (PDF). Hurlburt Field, FL: Air Force Special Operations Command Office of History. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
• 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.
• 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.
• Pape, Garry R.; Campbell, John M.; Campbell, Donna (1991). Northrop P-61 Black Widow: The Complete History and Combat Record. Minneapolis, MN: Motorbooks International. ISBN 978-0-879385-09-5.
• 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.