91st Fighter-Bomber Squadron

This article is about the 91st Fighter-Bomber Squadron of the Air Force Reserves. For the 91st Fighter-Bomber Squadron of the regular Air Force, see 91st Tactical Fighter Squadron.
91st Fighter-Bomber Squadron
Active 1943-1954
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
Nickname(s) Fighty
Colors Red, white and blue

The 91st Fighter-Bomber Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 439th Fighter-Bomber Group, based at Selfridge Air Force Base, Michigan. It was inactivated on 1 Apr 1954.

History

Activated in June 1943 under I Troop Carrier Command and equipped with C-47 Skytrains. Trained in various parts of the eastern United States until the end of 1943. Deployed to England and assigned to IX Troop Carrier Command, Ninth Air Force.

Prepared for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Began operations by dropping paratroops of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944) and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom.

After moving to France in September, the unit dropped paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the airborne attack on the Netherlands. In December, it participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne.

When the Allies made the air assault across the Rhine River in March 1945, each aircraft towed two gliders with troops of the 17th Airborne Division and released them near Wesel. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It converted from C-47s to C-46s and used the new aircraft to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and Belgium after V-E Day.

Postwar the squadron was activated in the air force reserve in 1940 at Selfridge AFB, Michigan, operating C-46 Commandos for Tactical Air Command Eighteenth Air Force. Inactivated during the Korean War in 1951, its aircraft and personnel being used as fillers for active duty units, then inactivated.

Reactivated again in the reserve in 1952 as a Tactical Air Command fighter-bomber squadron. Inactivated in April 1954 due to personnel and budget issues.

Operations and Decorations

Lineage

Activated on 1 Jun 1943
Inactivated on 10 Jun 1946
Activated in the reserve on 27 Jun 1949
Ordered to active service on 1 Apr 1951
Inactivated on 3 Apr 1951
Activated in the reserve on 15 Jun 1952
Inactivated on 1 Apr 1954.

Assignments

Stations

Operated from Orbetello Airfield, Italy, 18 Jul-24 Aug 1944

Aircraft

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

External links

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