The 417th Test and Evaluation Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 753rd Test and Evaluation Group and stationed at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Its previous assignment was with the USAF Weapons School at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, where it was inactivated on 14 September 2006.
The squadron was originally activated as the 417th Night Fighter Squadron in February 1943. After training in the United States and receiving additional operational training in the United Kingdom, the squadron saw action in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, flying both the British Bristol Beaufighter and Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighters. It earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for operations in Southern France. Following V-E Day, the 417th served as part of the occupation forces in Germany until inactivating in November 1946, and transferring its personnel to another squadron, which was simultaneously activated.
The squadron was activated as the 417th Fighter-Bomber Squadron in January 1953, when it replaced an Air National Guard squadron that had been mobilized for the Korean War. It soon moved to Europe with its North American F-86 Sabres, which it flew until upgrading to North American F-100 Super Sabres in 1958. In 1966 the unit transitioned to the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II as the 417th Tactical Fighter Squadron and was engaged in combat during the Vietnam War, being part of two combat deployments. Although kept on the record as an active squadron until September 1987, all personnel were withdrawn from the unit in November 1978.
In 1989 as the 417th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, it was responsible for the replacement training of new Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter pilots until inactivating in 1993.
History
World War II
The squadron was established in February 1943 as the 417th Night Fighter Squadron and trained with the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida. The 417th was the fourth USAAF dedicated night fighter squadron formed. The unit trained in the Douglas P-70, a modified Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber using a U.S. version of the British Mk IV radar. At the time the P-70 was the only American night fighter available. Besides routine transition training in the night fighter, the pilots also completed calibration, instrument, navigation flights, and numerous target missions in this period.
The squadron moved to England and was reassigned to VIII Fighter Command in the European Theater of Operations in May 1943. Because the P-70 was not suitable for night combat in Europe, the squadron was equipped with Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Beaufighters that were becoming available as RAF units equipped with the De Havilland Mosquito through a "reverse Lend-Lease" program until an American aircraft could be produced. The squadron received additional training with RAF night fighter units at several bases in early 1943 achieving the first victory on 24 July. Through the summer, they conducted daytime convoy escort and strike missions, but thereafter flew primarily at night.
The squadron was reassigned to Twelfth Air Force and deployed to Algeria in August 1943. Most of the ex-RAF aircraft they had inherited were battle weary and no supplies of spares were available through the US supply chain. The squadron scrounged a North American B-25 Mitchell, which it named the "Strawberry Roan," and used it to ranged throughout the Mediterranean in search of Beaufighter parts. The 417th carried out defensive night patrols over Allied held territory during the North African campaign, also conducted night interdiction raids on German positions in Algeria and Tunisia. In April 1944, the 417th transferred to Corsica and resumed patrol activities. In August 1944, the unit supported the Allied invasion of southern France before taking up duty to fly patrol, intruder, and interceptor missions.
The 417th moved to Belgium, operating from bases in the Low Countries, and moving into northern Germany in early 1944. During March and April 1945, the 417th converted from the Beaufighter to the Northrop P-61 Black Widow aircraft. It last major combat operations in the first week of May consisted of nightly patrols and intruder missions against enemy aircraft attempting to harass Seventh Army troops and their bridgeheads across the Danube River at Ulm, Donauwörth, and Dillingen, Germany.
The squadron remained in Germany after the war as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe. It performed occupation duty for over a year, returning to the United States and inactivating in November 1946.