The 321st Fighter Squadron was activated at
Mitchel Field, New York in August 1942 as one of the original squadrons of the
326th Fighter Group and moved the next month to
Bradley Field, Connecticut and equipped with
Republic P-47 Thunderbolts.[1][2] The 321st performed the
air defense mission for
First Air Force in the northeast during 1942 and 1943 while also conducting operational training.[2] Operational training units were oversized parent units which provided
cadres to "satellite groups."[3]
However, the
Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving not well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each of its bases was organized into a separate numbered unit.[6] As a result, in 1944 the
squadron was disbanded as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system.[1] The 123d AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Fighter) replaced the group headquarters and squadrons at Seymour Johnson.[7]
Cold War air defense
The squadron was reconstituted, redesignated as the 321st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and activated in 1955 as an
Air Defense Command (ADC) operational air defense unit at
Paine Air Force Base, Washington.[1] It absorbed the personnel and equipment of the
83d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron[8] as part of ADC's Project Arrow, which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars.[9] The 321st was equipped with
Northrop F-89D Scorpions, armed with
Mighty Mouse rockets.[10]
The group received later model Scorpions and by 1956 was entirely equipped with the F-89H, which could carry
AIM-4 Falcons in addition to the unguided Mighty Mouse rockets. It finally equipped with nuclear-capable F-89Js, armed with the
AIR-2 Genie and equipped with
data link for interception control through the
Semi-Automatic Ground Environment system in the spring of 1958.[10] The 321st Squadron was discontinued on 1 March 1960[1] in preparation for the move of the
64th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and its
Convair F-102 Delta Daggers to Paine from Alaska.[1][11]
Lineage
Constituted as the 321st Fighter Squadron (Single Engine) on 24 June 1942
Activated on 25 August 1942
Disbanded on 10 April 1944
Reconstituted and redesignated 321st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 20 June 1955
Buss, Lydus H.(ed), Sturm, Thomas A., Volan, Denys, and McMullen, Richard F., History of Continental Air Defense Command and Air Defense Command July to December 1955, Directorate of Historical Services, Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, (1956)
Goss, William A. (1955). "The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F.; Cate, James L. (eds.).
The Army Air Forces in World War II(PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
LCCN48003657.
OCLC704158. Retrieved 17 December 2016.