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427th Special Operations Squadron
The 427th Special Operations Squadron is a specialized, covert unit of the United States Air Force. After reporter Andreas Parsch filed a Freedom of Information Act request, the Air Force told him the unit "support[s] training requirements ... for infiltration and exfiltration." That is, it prepares troops for secretly slipping into and out of dangerous territory. The squadron is not listed by the Air Force Historical Research Agency. It is reported by the press to be stationed at Pope Field, North Carolina.
The squadron was originally formed during World War II as the 427th Night Fighter Squadron. Its planned mission to defend United States Army Air Forces bases in the Soviet Union was cancelled when the Soviets did not allow the unit to be based in Ukraine SSR during the Operation Frantic shuttle bombing missions that took place in 1944. It later served in Italy, India, Southern China and Burma as a Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter interceptor squadron.
The squadron was reactivated during the Vietnam War to train Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots in using the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly in counterinsurgency operations. Its most recent activation may involve counterinsurgency and counter-terrorist operations as part of Air Force Special Operations Command.
The 427th is a clandestine unit which the Air Force discloses little information about. According to news reports, it may provide Short Takeoff and Landing and tactically qualified crews to support training requirements for the US Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) community. It may support the United States Army Special Operations Command, the United States Army Special Forces Command, and the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
It is believed that the 427th provides US Army SOF personnel the opportunity to train on various types of aircraft for infiltration and exfiltration that they may encounter in the lesser developed countries in which they provide training. If this is factual, then 427th aircrews must be proficient in smaller types of aircraft in order to familiarize US Army personnel with their characteristics, peculiarities, and capabilities.
The Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (A) uses rotary wing platforms (Sikorsky MH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing MH-47, MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird/AH-6). Air Force Special Operations Command primarily uses fixed-wing aircraft (Lockheed MC-130, Lockheed AC-130, CASA C-212 Aviocar (C-41A)) with the exception of its Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey's. The 427th likely uses non-standard airframes that are usually found in third world or former eastern bloc nations.
The 427th Night Fighter Squadron was formed at Hammer Field, California, where its crews were trained. The squadron also flew training missions in the Bakersfield area. With their training as a unit completed, personnel of the 427th packed their bags and left California's sunny San Joaquin Valley in mid-July 1944. Initially traveling by ship from the east coast to Casablanca, French Morocco. Once the squadron's planes were assembled and checked out, the unit flew east to Cairo, Egypt, where they expected orders for Poltava Airfield, Ukraine on the Soviet Eastern Front.
The expected mission on the Russian Front was to provide night fighter escort and air defense for Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on "shuttle" missions from their bases in England and Italy to targets in Eastern Europe as part of Operation Frantic. However, a Luftwaffe night attack on the Soviet Air Force bases where the bombers landed in Ukraine on 21 June 1944 created mass havoc and destroyed many aircraft on the ground. The Soviets refused to allow American night fighters to defend the bomber bases, insisting that air defense was their responsibility, the 427th's orders to Poltava were scrubbed.
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427th Special Operations Squadron
The 427th Special Operations Squadron is a specialized, covert unit of the United States Air Force. After reporter Andreas Parsch filed a Freedom of Information Act request, the Air Force told him the unit "support[s] training requirements ... for infiltration and exfiltration." That is, it prepares troops for secretly slipping into and out of dangerous territory. The squadron is not listed by the Air Force Historical Research Agency. It is reported by the press to be stationed at Pope Field, North Carolina.
The squadron was originally formed during World War II as the 427th Night Fighter Squadron. Its planned mission to defend United States Army Air Forces bases in the Soviet Union was cancelled when the Soviets did not allow the unit to be based in Ukraine SSR during the Operation Frantic shuttle bombing missions that took place in 1944. It later served in Italy, India, Southern China and Burma as a Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter interceptor squadron.
The squadron was reactivated during the Vietnam War to train Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots in using the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly in counterinsurgency operations. Its most recent activation may involve counterinsurgency and counter-terrorist operations as part of Air Force Special Operations Command.
The 427th is a clandestine unit which the Air Force discloses little information about. According to news reports, it may provide Short Takeoff and Landing and tactically qualified crews to support training requirements for the US Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) community. It may support the United States Army Special Operations Command, the United States Army Special Forces Command, and the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
It is believed that the 427th provides US Army SOF personnel the opportunity to train on various types of aircraft for infiltration and exfiltration that they may encounter in the lesser developed countries in which they provide training. If this is factual, then 427th aircrews must be proficient in smaller types of aircraft in order to familiarize US Army personnel with their characteristics, peculiarities, and capabilities.
The Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (A) uses rotary wing platforms (Sikorsky MH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing MH-47, MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird/AH-6). Air Force Special Operations Command primarily uses fixed-wing aircraft (Lockheed MC-130, Lockheed AC-130, CASA C-212 Aviocar (C-41A)) with the exception of its Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey's. The 427th likely uses non-standard airframes that are usually found in third world or former eastern bloc nations.
The 427th Night Fighter Squadron was formed at Hammer Field, California, where its crews were trained. The squadron also flew training missions in the Bakersfield area. With their training as a unit completed, personnel of the 427th packed their bags and left California's sunny San Joaquin Valley in mid-July 1944. Initially traveling by ship from the east coast to Casablanca, French Morocco. Once the squadron's planes were assembled and checked out, the unit flew east to Cairo, Egypt, where they expected orders for Poltava Airfield, Ukraine on the Soviet Eastern Front.
The expected mission on the Russian Front was to provide night fighter escort and air defense for Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on "shuttle" missions from their bases in England and Italy to targets in Eastern Europe as part of Operation Frantic. However, a Luftwaffe night attack on the Soviet Air Force bases where the bombers landed in Ukraine on 21 June 1944 created mass havoc and destroyed many aircraft on the ground. The Soviets refused to allow American night fighters to defend the bomber bases, insisting that air defense was their responsibility, the 427th's orders to Poltava were scrubbed.
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