6th Night Fighter Squadron



The 6th Night Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Seventh Air Force, being inactivated at Wheeler Field, Hawaii on February 20, 1947.

It saw combat in Central, South, and Southwest Pacific, December 7, 1941 – August 14, 1945.

Lineage

 * Organized as 6th Aero Squadron on March 13, 1917
 * Redesignated: 6th Squadron on March 14, 1921
 * Redesignated: 6th Pursuit Squadron on January 25, 1923
 * Redesignated: 6th Pursuit Squadron (Interceptor) on December 6, 1939
 * Redesignated: 6th Fighter Squadron on May 15, 1942
 * Redesignated: 6th Night Fighter Squadron on January 17, 1943
 * Inactivated on: February 20, 1947

Assignments

 * Hawaiian Department, 13 March 1917
 * 2d Observation (later 5th Observation; 5th Pursuit and Bombardment; 5th Composite) Group, 15 September 1919
 * 18th Pursuit (later Fighter) Group, January 1927
 * 15th Fighter Group, 16 March 1943
 * VII Fighter Command, 5 June 1944
 * Attached to 318th Fighter Group, 11 January-16 March 1945


 * 7th Fighter Wing, 12 May 1945
 * Pacific Air Command, 1 January 1946
 * Fifth Air Force, 11 June 1946-20 February 1947
 * Attached to 314th Composite Wing
 * Upon inactivation, personnel and equipment reassigned to 339th Fighter Squadron (All Weather)

Stations

 * Fort Kamehameha, Hawaii Territory, March 13, 1917
 * Ford Island (later Luke Field), Hawaii Territory,September 25, 1918
 * Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii Territory, January 11, 1927
 * Kahuku Army Airfield, Hawaii Territory, August 30, 1942
 * Kipapa Gulch Army Airfield Hawaii Territory, November 17, 1942 – March 3, 1944
 * Detached: Koli Airfield, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, February 28 – December 15, 1943
 * Detached: Jackson Airfield (7 Mile Drome), Port Moresby, New Guinea, April 18 – December 15, 1943


 * John Rogers Field, Hawaii Territory, March 3 – October 28, 1944
 * Detached: East Field, Saipan, Mariana Islands, June 21, 1944 – May 1, 1945


 * Kipapa Gulch Army Airfield Hawaii Territory, October 28, 1944
 * Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii Territory,  October 2, 1945
 * Atsugi Airfield, Japan, June 11, 1946
 * Yokota Airfield, Japan, September 1, 1946 – February 20, 1947.

Aircraft operated

 * N-G, R-6 and HS2L (1918–1920)
 * Airco DH-4, HS2L, JN-6, MB-3, Fokker D.VIII (1920–1926)
 * PW-9, DH-4 C-2 (1927–1930)
 * P-12, PW-9, B-12, OA-3 (1931–1938)
 * P-26, P-36, B-12, A-12, OA-9 (1939–1941)
 * Curtiss P-40, 1941–1942
 * B-18 Bolo, 1942
 * P-70 Havoc, 1942–1944
 * P-38 Lightning, 1943
 * Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 1943–1945
 * Northrop P-61 Black Widow, 1944–1947