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It was sent to North Africa in late 1942 as part of the Operation Torch invasion forces, and took up station in Algeria. It was reassigned to Twelfth Air Force and flew both fighter escort missions for the Flying Fortresses operating from Algeria and tactical interdiction strikes on enemy targets of opportunity in Algeria and Tunisia during the North African Campaign.
Following the German defeat and withdrawal from North Africa the squadron participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily and invasion of Italy and subsequent drive of the United States Fifth Army up the Italian Peninsula. Engaged primarily in tactical operations after November 1943, supporting ground forces and attacking enemy targets of opportunity such as railroads, road convoys, bridges, strafing enemy airfields and other targets. It deployed to Corsica in 1944 to attack enemy targets in support of Free French forces in the liberation of the island and to support Allied Forces in the invasion of Southern France. It continued offensive operations until the German capitulation in May 1945. It returned to the United States and was inactivated during the fall of 1945.
In February 1960 the 5th moved to Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, and transitioned into the Convair F-106 Delta Dart under the 32d Fighter Wing.[4] Although the number of ADC interceptor squadrons remained almost constant in the early 1960s, attrition (and the fact that production lines closed in 1961) caused a gradual drop in the number of planes assigned to typical fighter squadrons, from 24 to typically 18 by 1964 and 12 by 1967. These reductions resulted in the squadron's parent 32d Fighter Wing's inactivation and the transfer of Minot to Strategic Air Command in July 1962.[4][5]
On 22 October 1962, before PresidentJohn F. Kennedy told Americans that missiles were in place in Cuba, the squadron dispersed one third of its force, equipped with nuclear tipped missiles to Hector Field at the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis.[6][7] These planes returned to Minot after the crisis. In late 1962 the 5th acquired two live lynx kittens ("Spitten" and "Kitten") as mascots, with the assistance of the Minot Daily News, after a farmer had killed their mother.[8][9]
In the mid-1980s the 5th converted to the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles. The F-15s only flew over Minot until the spring of 1988, when the FIS was inactivated. The lynx den in the squadron was one of the few places where Canada lynx had bred in captivity in the U.S.,[9] prompting both the St. Louis and San Diego Zoos to copy it in an attempt to get their own lynx inhabitants to produce offspring. Several generations of lynx flourished there, and after the unit was inactivated, Delta and Dart, twin kitten descendants of the original two Lynx kitten mascots were donated to the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot.
Pilot training
It was reactivated in 1990 as an Air Training Command (later Air Education and Training Command) undergraduate pilot Training squadron at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, but was inactivated in December of the following year. The squadron was activated again at Vance in 1997, but this time as a reserve unit. As an associate unit, it trains pilots and pilot instructors alongside the active duty members of the 71st Flying Training Wing.[1]
Lineage
Constituted as the 5th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on 20 November 1940
Activated on 15 January 1941
Redesignated 5th Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942
Inactivated on 7 November 1945
Activated on 9 November 1946
Redesignated 5th Fighter Squadron, All Weather on 10 May 1948
Redesignated 5th Fighter-All Weather Squadron on 20 January 1950
Redesignated 5th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 1 May 1951
Inactivated on 1 July 1988
Redesignated 5th Flying Training Squadron on 1 January 1990
Activated on 16 February 1990
Inactivated on 15 December 1991
Redesignated 5th Flying Training Flight and activated in the reserve on 1 April 1997
Redesignated 5th Flying Training Squadron on 1 April 1998[1]
^As an ADC squadron, the squadron's motto was Isti Non Penetrabunt, literally "they shall not penetrate", but colloquially to crews as The Bastards Shall Not PassBroughton 2007, p. 274
^The emblem was modified after 1963 to bring the lightning bolts within the disc. Maurer, p. 34
^Aircraft is Northrop P-61B-10-NO Black Widow, serial 42-39567, taken in December 1947.
Watkins, Robert A. (2009). Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. Vol. IV, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations. Atglen,PA: Shiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN978-0-7643-3401-6.
McMullen, Richard F. (1964) "The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962-1964" ADC Historical Study No. 27, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, CO (Confidential, declassified 22 Mar 2000)
NORAD/CONAD Participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Historical Reference Paper No. 8, Directorate of Command History Continental Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, 1 Feb 63 (Top Secret NOFORN declassified 9 March 1996)
United States
United States Air Force
