473d Fighter Group

The 473d Fighter Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 30th Air Division, stationed at K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan. It was inactivated on 30 September 1959.

During World War II, the unit was primarily a replacement training group assigned to Fourth Air Force which trained P-38 Lightning pilots. Reactivated during the Cold War by Air Defense Command, the group was tasked with air defense of upper Midwestern United States, 1959 (not equipped, 1956–1959).

Lineage

 * Constituted as: 473d Fighter Group on 12 October 1943
 * Activated on 1 November 1943
 * Disbanded on 31 March 1944
 * Replaced by 402d Army Air Forces Base Unit (Fighter)


 * Reconstituted and re-designated 473d Fighter Group (Air Defense), on 8 July 1955
 * Activated on 8 April 1956
 * Inactivated on 30 September 1959

Assignments

 * IV Fighter Command
 * Attached to: Los Angeles Fighter Wing, 1 November 1943-31 March 1944


 * 4706th Air Defense Wing, 8 April 1956
 * 30th Air Division, 1 April-1 October 1959

Components

 * 62d Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 1 August-30 September 1959 (Attached)
 * 451st Fighter Squadron: 1 December 1943-31 March 1944
 * 482d Fighter Squadron: 1 November 1943-31 March 1944
 * 483d Fighter Squadron: 1 November 1943-31 March 1944
 * 484th Fighter (later Fighter-Interceptor) Squadron: 1943-1944, 8 June 1956-16 February 1959

Stations

 * Grand Central Air Terminal, California, 1 November 1943
 * Ephrata Army Air Base, Washington, 28-31 March 1944
 * K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base, Michigan, 8 April 1956-1 October 1959

Aircraft

 * P-38 Lightning, 1943–1944
 * F-101 Voodoo, 1959