377th Fighter Squadron

The 377th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force active duty unit stationed at Montgomery Air National Guard Base, Alabama. It is an Active Associate Unit administratively assigned to the 495th Fighter Group at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina and integrated operationally with the 100th Fighter Squadron of the Alabama Air National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing. Prior to its reactivation in 2015, the unit was last stationed at Biggs Field, Texas, where as a subordinate unit of the 362d Fighter Group they flew the North American P-51H Mustang.

377th Fighter Squadron
F-16 Fighting Falcons of the 100th Fighter Squadron
Active11 February 1943 – 1 August 1946, 17 October 2014 – present
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
TypeFighter
RoleMultirole
Part ofAir Combat Command
Ninth Air Force
495th Fighter Group
Garrison/HQMontgomery Air National Guard Base
EngagementsWorld War II
DecorationsDistinguished Unit Citation
Insignia
377th Fighter Squadron
Aircraft flown
FighterP-47 Thunderbolt
P-51 Mustang
F-16 Fighting Falcon

Current Operations

Active Associate Unit

The 377th Fighter Squadron was reactivated at Montgomery Air National Guard Base during a ceremony on 17 October 2014, replacing Detachment 100 of the 495th Fighter Group.[1] As an Active Association Unit it is part of the Total Force Integration (TFI) initiative whereby Regular Air Force personnel work side-by-side with host Air National Guard personnel in a mutually beneficial relationship to share resources, reduce duplications of effort, and ultimately, increase the Air Force's ability to provide dominant combat airpower for America.

History

World War II
World War II Insignia

The 377th Fighter Squadron was established on 1 March 1943 at Westover Field, Massachusetts as part of the 362nd Fighter Group, equipped with Republic P-47D Thunderbolt. A year later, on 8 February 1944 they deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) for combat as a part of the Ninth Air Force in England. There they remained engaged in combat operations until 1 May 1945.

On 9 September 1945 they were reassigned back to the United States and assigned to First Air Force at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina, while being programmed for deployment to Okinawa to take part in the planned Invasion of Japan. As a result of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the sudden end of the Pacific War, the deployment plans were canceled, however the unit was retained as part of the Second Air Force under Continental Air Forces and reassigned to Biggs Field, Texas, where they were equipped with the North American P-51 Mustang. The 377th Fighter Squadron was later Inactivated on 1 August 1946 due to postwar budget restrictions.[2]

Lineage
  • Constituted as 377th Fighter Squadron on 11 February 1943.
  • Activated on 1 March 1943.
  • Inactivated on 1 August 1946.
  • Activated on 7 November 2015.

Assignments
  • 362d Fighter Group, 1 March 1943 – 1 August 1946
  • 495th Fighter Group, 7 November 2015 – present

Stations

Aircraft

Campaign and Award Streamers
Campaign streamer Campaign Dates
World War II: European Theater of Operations; Air Offensive; Air Combat20 October 1943 – 5 June 1944
Decoration streamer Decoration Dates Location
Presidential Unit Citation (formerly the Distinguished Unit Citation25 August 1944 Brest France
Presidential Unit Citation (formerly the Distinguished Unit Citation 16 March 1945 Moselle-Rhine River Triangle

References
Notes
  1. Baldwin, TSG Christopher (November 2015). "In Formation" (PDF). 187th Fighter Wing Public Affairs. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  2. Maurer, pp. 466–467

Bibliography

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

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