415th Special Operations Squadron

415th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Emblem of the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Active	1942-1991
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Engagements	World War II MTO Campaign (1943-1945) Southwest Asia Service (1990-1991)

The 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 37th Tactical Fighter Wing stationed at Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada. It was inactivated on 1 November 1991.

• Constituted 415th Night Fighter Squadron on 8 Feb 1943

Activated on 10 Feb 1943

Inactivated on 1 Sep 1947

• Redesignated 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 5 Oct 1989 and reactivated

Inactivated on 1 Nov 1991

• Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, 10 Feb 1943

Air echelon attached to VIII Fighter Command, 31 Mar-2 Jul 1943

• Twelfth Air Force

Attached to Northwest African Coastal Air Force, 12 May 1943

1st Air Defense (later 62d Fighter) Wing, 20 Jun 1943

XI1 Fighter Command

Attached to Tunis Fighter Sector, 7 Aug 1943

62d Fighter Wing, 27 Sep 1943

Attached to 64th Fighter Wing, c. 3 Sep-5 Dec 1943

XII Air Support Command, 12 Oct 1943

64th Fighter Wing, 5 Dec 1943

Attached to 87th Fighter Wing, c. 3 Jul-c. 5 Aug 1944

Detachment attached to 600 Night Fighter Squadron, RAF, 23 Jul-5 Aug 1944

• Continental Air Command, 15 Feb 1946
• Strategic Air Command, 21 Mar 1946
• Tactical Air Command, 13 Jul 1946

Third Air Force, 1 Oct 1946

Ninth Air Force, 1 Nov 1946

• Alaskan Air Command

Alaskan Department, 27 Jun-1 Sep 1947

• Tactical Air Command

37 Tactical Fighter Wing, 5 Oct 1989-1 Nov 1991

• Orlando AB, Fla, 10 Feb-22 Apr 1943

Air echelon in England, 31 Mar-18 Jun 1943

• La Senia, Algeria, 12 May 1943
• La Sebala, Tunisia, 22 Jun 1943
• Monastir, Tunisia, 25 Jun 1943

Detachment operated from Protville, Tunisia 23-29 Jul 1943

• La Sebala, Tunisia, 29 Jul 1943
• Cassibile, Sicily, 3 Sep 1943
• Cantania, Sicily, 5 Nov 1943

Detachment operated from: Montecorvino, Italy, 29 Nov-26 Dec 1943

Detachment operated from: Gaudo Airfield, Italy, 6 Dec 1943-30 Jan 1944

• Montecorvino, Italy, 26 Dec 1943
• Marcianise, Italy, 30 Jan 1944
• Pomigliano, Italy, 25 Mar 1944
• La Banca, Italy, c. 11 Jun 1944
• Valtone, Italy, c. 17 Jun 1944
• Solonzara, Corsica, c. 9 Jul 1944

Detachment operated from: Piombino, Italy, 23 Jul-c. 5 Aug 1944

• Le Vallon, France, c. 1 Sep 1944
• Longvic, France, c. 25 Sep 1944
• Ochey, France, c. 30 Nov 1944
• St Dizier, France, c. 18 Mar 1945
• Braunstadt, Germany, c. 17 Apr 1945
• Nordholz, Germany, c. 2 Oct 1945-15 Feb 1946
• Bolling Field, DC, 15 Feb 1946;
• Shaw Field, SC, 13 Jul 1946-10 May 1947
• Adak, Alaska, i9 May-1 Sep 1947.
• Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada, 5 Oct 1989-1 Nov 1991

Operated from King Khaled Air Base, Saudi Arabia, 19 Aug 1990 - 1 Apr 1991

• A-20 Havoc, 1943
• P-70 Havoc, 1943
• Bristol Beaufighter, 1943-1945
• P-61 Black Widow, 1945-1946; 1946-1947
• B-25 Mitchell, 1946-1947
• F-117 Nighthawk, 1989-1991

Patrols over the Pacific, Sep 1944-Jan 1945. Combat in Western Pacific, 7 Mar-14 Aug 1945

Replaced 4450th TG 4450th Tactical Squadron (I-Unit), 5 Oct 1989

On December 19, 1989, just 13 months after the Pentagon had disclosed the existence of the F-117A, it was used in combat for the first time. This was in Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama intended to dislodge and arrest General Manuel Noreiga. At the beginning of the invasion, six F-117As flew to Panama from Tonopah. Their mission was to drop 2000-pound bombs near the Panama Defense Forces (PDF) barracks at Rio Hato. The purpose of these bomb drops was to stun and disorient the PDF troops living there so that the barracks could be stormed and the troops captured with minimal resistance and casualties. The pilots were instructed to drop their bombs no closer than 50 meters from two separate PDF barracks buildings. On the night of December 19, two lead F-117As each dropped a conventional 2000-pound bomb at the Rio Hato barracks.

In response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the 415th TFS of the 37th TFW was deployed to Saudi Arabia on August 19, 1990. On January 17, 1991, the Coalition began an air offensive to eject Iraqi troops from Kuwait. In the early morning hours, the F-117As of the 37th TFW initiated the air war against Iraq. Mission planners had assigned critical strategic Iraqi command and control installations to the F-117A, counting on the aircraft's ability to hit precisely at well-defended targets without being seen. Other vital targets included key communications centers, research and development facilities for nuclear and chemical weapons, plus hardened aircraft shelters on Iraqi airfields. On the first night of the war, an F-117A dropped a 2000-pound laser-guided GBU-27 Paveway III bomb right through the roof of the general communications building in downtown Baghdad. In another attack on the communications building next to the Tigris River, another GBU-27 Paveway III was dropped through an air shaft in the center of the roof atop the building and blew out all four walls. During the first three weeks of the air offensive, F-117As obliterated many hardened targets with unprecedented precision. The 37th TFW flew 1271 combat sorties and maintained an 85.5 percent mission-capable rate. The 43 F-117As of the 37th TFW dropped more than 2000 tons of precision ordinance and attacked some 40 percent of the high-value targets that were struck by the Coalition forces. Not one F-117A was hit, shot down, or lost to mechanical failure. There is no evidence that the F-117A was ever detected or tracked by Iraqi radar installations, either ground or airborne. The F-117's concealment, deception, and evasiveness proved that it could survive in the most hostile of environments, and its laser-guided bombs struck with extreme accuracy.

Most of the F-117As deployed to Saudi Arabia returned home to Nellis AFB in April of 1991

F-117As reassigned to 49th FW 8 FS, 1 Jul 1991 and Inactivated

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

• Northrop P-61 Black Widow--The Complete History and Combat Record, Garry R. Pape, John M. Campbell and Donna Campbell, Motorbooks International, 1991.
• Mauer, Mauer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. ISBN: 0892010975