The squadron was activated as the 93rd Fighter Squadron. Following training in the United States, it deployed with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings to North Africa, entering combat in January 1943. It moved forward with Allied forces through Sicily to mainland Italy. In the summer of 1944, it was transferred to India, where it retrained on single engine fighters, then to China to reinforce Fourteenth Air Force. It remained in China after V-J Day, but returned to the United States, where it was inactivated at the port of embarkation in November 1945.
The squadron was activated the following year in Hawaii, where it served until inactivating in 1949. Shortly thereafter, it was reactivated at Kirtland and equipped with jet fighters.
Moved overseas between October 1942 and February 1943,[1] the ground echelon established itself in French Morocco with the force that invaded North Africa on 8 November. The air echelon, which had trained for a time in England, arrived in North Africa between late December 1942 and early February 1943.
The unit began combat with the Twelfth Air Force in January 1943, supporting ground operations during the Allied drive against Axis forces in Tunisia. It patrolled the coast of North Africa and protected Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea between April and July 1943. It also provided cover for the convoys that landed troops on Pantelleria island on 11 June and on Sicily on 10 July 1943. The squadron supported the landings at Anzio on 22 January 1944 and flew patrols in that area for a short time.
Transferred to the China-Burma-India Theater, it moved to India in February and March 1944.[1] It initially carried out training with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. Moving to China in May, it became part of the Fourteenth Air Force. The squadron continued training and on occasion flew patrols and escort missions before returning to full-time combat duty in January 1945. It attacked enemy airfields and installations, flew escort missions and aided the operations of Chinese ground forces by attacking troop concentrations, ammunition dumps, lines of communication and other targets to hinder Japanese efforts to move men and matèriel to the front.
It was inactivated in China on 27 December 1945.[1]
93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron F-86Fs at Kirtland AFB in 1950A 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 4 F-86A overflight of Kirtland AFB in 1951[note 3]
It was re-equipped with F-86Ds in 1953. It began upgrading to the F-86L in 1957, which incorporated the Semi Automatic Ground Environment, or SAGE computer-controlled direction system for intercepts. The duration of the F-86L's service was destined to be quite brief, since by the time the last 'L' was delivered, the type was already being phased out in favor of supersonic interceptors. The squadron was inactivated in 1960[1] during an ADC reorganization and phase-out of the F-86 from active-duty units.
Lineage
Constituted as the 93d Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on 13 January 1942
Activated on 9 February 1942
Redesignated the 93d Fighter Squadron on 15 May 1942
Inactivated on 8 December 1945
Activated on 15 October 1946
Redesignated 93d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 20 January 1950
^ Identified aircraft are: 48-239, 48-224, 48-263 and 49-1061.
^Cornett & Johnson indicate the squadron was reassigned to the 1st Fighter Wing at this time, but neither Maurer nor Ravenstein reflect this assignment. Compare Cornett & Johnson, p. 121 with Maurer, p. 313 and Ravenstein, p. 6.
Citations
^ abcdefghijkMaurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 312-313