426th Night Fighter Squadron

426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron
426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron F-15A-8-MC Eagle 73-0094, 1984
Active	1943-1945; 1970-1990
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Squadron
Role	Interceptor training
Engagements	World War II Asiatic-Pacific Theatre
Insignia
Emblem of the 426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron

The 426th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force fighter squadron. Its last assignment was with the 405th Tactical Training Wing, being inactivated at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, on 19 November 1990.

During World War II, the 426th Night Fighter Squadron was a night fighter squadron assigned to Tenth Air Force in India, and Fourteenth Air Force in China. It was reactivated in 1970 as a tactical fighter Replacement Training Unit (RTU) At Luke AFB.

The 426th Night Fighter Squadron was formed at Hammer Field, California in January 1944. It was the first night fighter squadron formed in California and was the first programmed for deployment to the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. It and the 427th Night Fighter Squadron were also the first squadrons fully trained on the Northrup P-61 Black Widow night fighter. The two squadrons remained close to each other through their training cycles, flying training missions in the Bakersfield area. With its training as a unit completed, the members of 426th NFS packed their bags and left California's sunny San Joaquin Valley in mid-June 1944.

The squadron took a long route getting to India, traveling across the United States to Newport News, Virginia, where they boarded the USS General A. E. Anderson for India. Arriving on 8 August, they boarded a train that took them to their next stop, Calcutta. Their destination, for a while at least, was Camp Kanchapara, about forty miles from Calcutta. They would have quite a bit of time on their hands, because it wasn't until late September that their P-61 Black Widows arrived by ship in Calcutta.