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72nd Fighter Wing

Field	Value
unit_name	72d Fighter Wing
image	Republic P-47 Thunderbolt USAF.JPG
image_size	300
caption	P-47 Thunderbolts as flown by the wing
dates	1943–1946
country
branch
role	Command of Fighter operational and replacement training units

The 72d Fighter Wing was a wing of the United States Army Air Forces. It was assigned to Second Air Force, stationed at Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado. It was inactivated on 9 April 1946.

History

The wing was initially activated in August 1943 as the 72d Bombardment Operational Training Wing, a command organization for heavy bomber training. Ten days after activation, it was redesignated the 72d Fighter Wing and became single-engine fighter training organization for Second Air Force. The wing had jurisdiction over fighter Operational Training Unit and Replacement Training Unit in the midwest.

Stations assigned to the wing included:

Abilene Army Air Field, Texas
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico
Bruning Army Air Field, Nebraska
Casper Army Air Field, Wyoming
Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas
DeRidder Army Air Base, Louisiana
Galveston Army Air Field, Texas
Harding Field, Louisiana
Peterson Field, Colorado
Pocatello Army Air Field, Idaho
Scribner Army Air Field, Nebraska

Lineage

Constituted as 72d Bombardment Operational Training Wing (Heavy) on 12 August 1943 : Activated on 20 August 1943 : Redesigned 72d Fighter Wing on 1 September 1943 : Inactivated on 9 April 1946
Disbanded on 15 June 1983
Reconstituted on 31 July 1985 and redesigned 372d Electronic Warfare Group
Disbanded on 9 September 1992

Assignments

Second Air Force, 12 August 1943 – 9 April 1946

Components

36th Fighter Group, 17 September 1943 – 4 April 1944
84th Fighter Group, 1 November 1943 – 1 April 1944
357th Fighter Group, 7 October – 9 November 1943
407th Fighter Group, 9 March 1943 – 21 March 1944
408th Fighter Group, 1 November 1943 – 1 April 1944
476th Fighter Group, 26 March – 1 April 1944
507th Fighter Group, 12 October 1944 – 24 June 1945
508th Fighter Group, 12 October 1944 – 6 January 1945

Stations

Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, 20 August 1943
Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado, 7 October 1943
Peterson Field, Colorado, November 1943
Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado, December 1945 – 9 April 1946

Aircraft

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, 1943 – 1944

Campaign

Campaign Streamer	Campaign	Dates	Notes
[[File:World War II - American Campaign Streamer (Plain).png	200px]]	American Theater without inscription	20 August 1943–2 March 1946	72md Bombardment Operational Training Wing (later 72nd Fighter Wing)

References

Notes

Bibliography

References

Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 406
Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 150
Robertson, Patsy. (11 June 2014). "36 Operations Group (PACAF)". Air Force Historical Research Agency.
Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 498q, 15 June 1983, Subject: Disbandment of Certain Inactive Air Force Units
Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 648q, 31 July 1985, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Organizations
Maurer, ''Combat Units'', p. 406 (year only)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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