| 386th Fighter Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1943-1945 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Fighter |
The 386th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 365th Fighter Group, stationed at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. It was inactivated on 22 September 1945
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Activated in May 1943 as a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron, assigned to I Fighter Command for training. They departed Richmond Army Air Base in December 4, 1943 and sailed on the Queen Elizabeth along with 15,000 troops. They arrived at RAF Gosfield, Essex on December 23, 1943. Their first combat air field training resumed for two months. On February 22, 1944, the squadron flew their first combat mission and over the next one to two months gradually converting from escorting Eighth Air Force heavy bombers to their fighter-bomber mode under Ninth Air Force that continued to the war's end.
The squadron was instrumental in determining the maximum bomb loads for the P-47. Two one-thousand pound bombs and an external fuel tank on the Billy Rack. They were the first group to fly a dive-bombing mission with that bomb load. Their fire power was eight fifty caliber machine guns and their total arsenal included rockets and napalm. This armament was standard for all thirteen P-47 fighter-bomber groups shortly after the D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944.
Assigned to the IX Tactical Air Command, the squadron flew in direct support of General Hodges First Army. Their mission was two-fold. Protect the ground forces from enemy air attack and destroy any and all obstacles on the ground that prevented our forces from advancing. On two occasions to support Patton's Third Army. The first was shortly after August 1, 1944. The second was during the last months of the Battle of the Bulge. The squadron was active against specific targets on D-Day before, during and following. This was the first company breakthrough in the Battle of the Bulge in taking Germany. The squadron was part of the first group to move into Germany on March 17, 1945 at Aachen and the first to fly a combat mission off a German soil.
The 386th Fighter Squadron flew combat from February 22, 1944 through May 4, 1945, totalling 14.5 months. They flew combat from eleven air fields or air strips moving more times than any other fighter-bomber group in the Ninth Air Force.
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.