559th Flying Training Squadron

The 559th Flying Training Squadron is an active United States Air Force squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. It operates the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II, and has trained instructor pilots at Randolph since 1972.

The squadron was first organized in January 1941 as the 81st Bombardment Squadron. After training in the United States, it moved to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it engaged in combat operations until 1944, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation. It then moved to the China Burma India Theater, continuing in combat until V-J Day. It returned to the United States and was inactivated at Fort Lawton, Washington on 22 January 1946. It was briefly activated in 1947, but budget considerations resulted in reductions of Air Force strength in Fiscal Year 1949, and the squadron did not equip or man.

In 1950, the squadron became the 559th Fighter-Escort Squadron, under this designation, and as the 559th Strategic Fighter Squadron, the squadron operated under Strategic Air Command (SAC) until July 1957, when SAC transferred its fighter units to Tactical Air Command. It deployed to England and Japan while under SAC control. Plans to upgrade its equipment were dropped, and the squadron inactivated in January 1958.

The squadron was activated again in 1962 as the 559th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Although intended to become one of the Air Force's first McDonnell F-4 Phantom II squadrons, it was temporarily equipped with Republic F-84F Thunderstreaks until Phantoms became available in 1964. The squadron deployed to Okinawa in the summer of 1965 to augment air defenses in the Pacific. Shortly afterwards, in December 1965, the squadron moved to Viet Nam, where it engaged in combat until inactivating in March 1970, earning five Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards with Combat "V" Device.

The squadron trains instructor pilots utilizing the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II aircraft, which is used to teach pilots basic flying skills. The pilots who graduate from the squadron's pilot instructor training program are assigned to train undergraduate pilots at several Air Force installations. Each year, the squadron trains 220 pilots to become instructors in a four months long program. These upgrading instructors, who are experienced pilots, learn how to teach the basics of flying to undergraduate pilots.

The squadron was first activated as the 81st Bombardment Squadron at McChord Field, Washington on 15 January 1941 as the United States began building up its armed forces after the beginning of World War II in Europe, drawing its initial cadre from the 17th Bombardment Group. It was assigned to the 12th Bombardment Group. Although the 12th was designated as a light bomber group, the squadron was initially equipped with a mix of Douglas B-18 Bolo and Douglas B-23 Dragon medium bombers.

At the time of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the squadron began flying antisubmarine patrols and watching for signs of an invasion. At the end of December 1941, the 12th Group was designated a medium bomber unit, consistent with its equipment. In February 1942, the group moved to Esler Field, Louisiana, where it began converting to the North American B-25 Mitchell. In early May, the 12th Group deployed to Stockton Army Air Field, California, where half its crews stood alert during daylight hours. After the defeat of the Japanese Navy in the Battle of Midway, the group returned to Esler Field.

In June 1942, while in the United States for a conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made an urgent plea for military aid to help stop Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps from overrunning Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Arabian oil fields. The United States dispatched the squadron to the Middle East to reinforce the British forces there. Between 14 July and 2 August, aircrews departed Morrison Field, Florida for Egypt via the South Atlantic ferry route to Egypt by way of Brazil, Ascension Island, across Africa to the Sudan, and then north to Egypt. By mid-August, all crews had arrived at Deversoir Air Base, Egypt without a single loss. Ground personnel left Esler Field by train on 3 July for Fort Dix, and sailed from New York City on 16 July 1942 on the SS Pasteur for a month-long trip around South Africa and up the Red Sea to Suez, Egypt, arriving on 16 August 1942.