The 65th Aggressor Squadron is a United States Air Force unit currently operating the F-35A Lightning II. It is assigned to the 57th Operations Group at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
Overview
The 65th Aggressor Squadron currently flies the F-35A, operating as a high-end adversary air to better simulate stealth fighters being inducted in competing nations. As part of the 57th Operations Group, the squadron simulates peer and near-peer stealth threat tactics for Red Flag exercises and provides support for the USAF Weapons School syllabus.
History
World War II
Formed as a P-40 Warhawk pursuit squadron in January 1941 as part of the Army Air Corps Northeast Defense Sector (later I Fighter Command) at Mitchel Field, New York. Trained in New England and provided air defense of the northeast after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Was reassigned to the U.S. Army Middle East Force in Egypt, July 1942, becoming part of IX Fighter Command. Took part in the British Western Desert campaign, engaged in combat during the Battle of El Alamein and, as part of Ninth Air Force, supported the Commonwealth Eighth Army's drive across Egypt and Libya, escorting bombers and flying strafing and dive-bombing missions against airfields, communications, and troop concentrations until Axis defeat in Tunisia in May 1943. The unit participated in the reduction of Pantelleria (May–June 1943) and the conquest of Sicily (July–August 1943).
The squadron supported the British Eighth Army's landing at Termoli and subsequent operations in Italy, being reassigned to Twelfth Air Force in August 1943. It flew dive-bombing, strafing, patrol, and escort missions.
In 1944, converted to Republic P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft and flew interdiction operations in Italy. They moved to Corsica on 30 March 1944 to operate as a separate task force. It flew interdiction missions against railroads, communication targets, and motor vehicles behind enemy lines, providing a minimum of 48 fighter-bomber sorties per day.
Participated in the French campaign against Elba in June 1944 and in the invasion of Southern France in August. It engaged in interdiction and support operations in northern Italy from September 1944 to May 1945.
The 65th flew its last combat mission on 2 May 1945. Remained in northern Italy after the end of the European War, demobilizing throughout the summer of 1945. It was reassigned to the United States in August 1945 without personnel or equipment and was inactivated at the end of August.
Cold War
Reactivated in August 1946 as part of Eleventh Air Force (later Alaskan Air Command) as part of the air defense forces in the northwest Pacific. Squadron began training new P-51 pilots at Ladd Field, Alaska. Later, it was equipped with F-80Bs in March–April 1948, F-80Cs in October–December 1948, F-94Bs in the summer of 1951, and F-89Cs in September 1953. With these aircraft, the squadron provided fighter aircraft defense in support of the Alaska Area until late in the 1950s.
In October 1969, the 65th Fighter Weapons Squadron took over the F-100D/F Super Sabre aircraft, personnel, and facilities of the 4536th Fighter Weapons Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. F-100s tail coded "WB", only to become non-operational early in 1970. On reactivation was equipped with A-7D Corsair II ground attack aircraft, operating from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. Conducted fighter weapons training with the A-7D until June 1975, when aircraft was sent to Air National Guard units.
Aggressor training
The squadron was re-equipped in October 1975 with F-5E Tiger IIs, the aircraft having been originally destined for delivery to South Vietnam until that nation collapsed earlier that year and the aircraft subsequently becoming available. Since the F-5E had approximately the size and performance characteristics of a Soviet MiG-21, it was used throughout the US and overseas to teach adversarial tactics and provide dissimilar air combat training to US Air Force flying units, eventually becoming the 65th Aggressor Squadron. The squadron's F-5s carried no tail codes, although they did carry the Nellis black/yellow checkertail stripe and a Tactical Air Command emblem on the tail. The aircraft were painted in Soviet Air Forces motif with subdued USAF markings, with the last two digits of the F-5's tail number painted in the then-Soviet style in red on the front fuselage, highlighted in white.