The 415th Special Operations Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 58th Operations Group at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The 415th Night Fighter Squadron was formed in February 1943, and it carried out missions in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations, and then in northwestern Europe during World War II. It was inactivated in 1947, with its personnel and aircraft being transferred to another squadron.
Reactivated in 2011, the squadron replaced the 58th Special Operations Wing, Detachment 1. Its mission is to train special operations personnel operating both the HC-130J Combat King II and the MC-130J Commando II.
History
World War II
During World War II, the 415th Night Fighter Squadron was activated on 10 February 1943. At that time, the squadron was assigned to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics for training in the P-70 night fighter, a converted Douglas A-20 Havoc medium bomber. That training included daylight and nighttime air interceptions, ground-controlled interception, navigation, and instrument flying.
On 3 March 1943, the air echelon from the unit left Florida. Twenty days later, the echelon sailed on the RMS Empress of Scotland, and arrived in England on 31 March. There, the pilots, engineers, and radar operators trained separately until May 1943, when all parts of the air echelon moved to RAF Ayr, Scotland, for training as a complete unit. The ground component moved from Florida on 22 April 1943 to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and it left there a week later on the transport ship USAT "Shawnee" for North Africa. It arrived at Oran, Algeria, on 11 May 1943 to begin working and training at the nearby La Senia Airfield. In June 1943, the ground component moved to Tunisia, where it worked with a Royal Air Force night fighter squadron. The air echelon joined the ground troops in early July at Monastir Airfield, Tunisia.
The 415th Squadron entered combat as a unit in July 1943, flying British-made Bristol Beaufighter aircraft. The squadron's pilots flew convoy patrols, night patrols, and interception scrambles. As its first important mission, the 415th squadron flew escort missions for the airborne invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The squadron was moved to Sicily in early September, and later to the mainland of Italy in December as the Allies continued gain ground on the Axis powers. In Italy, the squadron continued its patrols, and it flew night cover over the Anzio beachhead during January and February 1944.
In July 1944, the squadron moved again to Corsica to take part in the pending Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. This invasion occurred in August, and the 415th again flew night patrols covering the beachheads. After the Allied ground forces established beachheads, the squadron moved into Southern France, where it supported the U.S 7th Army and the French 1st Army with night interception and anti-night-intruder sorties. The pilots also patrolled the lines at St. Die, and it dropped flares to light up targets for the artillery. Through April 1945, the squadron flew patrols and intruder missions, concentrating its attacks on enemy installations, supplies, communications, and troops.
The 415th squadron took part in the Allied invasion of Germany, moving to Braunshardt Airfield, Germany, where it moved from the Beaufighter to the new American nightfighter, the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. The squadron only flew a few missions in this new fighter before the war ended. With the Fall of Germany, the squadron became a part of the United States Air Forces in Europe army of occupation. It moved to AAF Station Nordholz, Germany, in October 1945, remaining there until February 1946, when it returned to the United States.
Postwar Era
When arriving at Bolling Field, DC, the squadron returned without people and equipment, and then moved to Shaw Field, South Carolina. The unit remained unmanned through July 1946, when new pilots with P-61s and North American B-25 Mitchells arrived. It resumed its training in night fighter techniques until May 1947, when the squadron was reassigned to Alaskan Air Command, and was stationed at Adak Army Air Field to defend the Aleutian Islands. The squadron flew training patrols until being inactivated on 1 September 1947, with its personnel and aircraft being transferred to the 449th Fighter Squadron (All Weather), upon inactivation.
Special operations training
During the final phases of the War in Southeast Asia, the 415th was redesignated the 415th Special Operations Training Squadron, as a component of the 1st Special Operations Wing to replace the 4413th Combat Crew Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida.