47th Fighter Squadron

47th Fighter Squadron
47th Fighter Squadron A-10 Thunderbolt II at Hawgsmoke 2010 competition
Active	1940–1946; 1952–1960; 1962–1971; 1973–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Fighter
Part of	Air Force Reserve Command 10th Air Force 442nd Fighter Wing
Garrison/HQ	Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device
Insignia
47th Fighter Squadron emblem (approved 19 September 1944)

The 47th Fighter Squadron is an Air Force Reserve Command unit based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and falls under the operational control of the 924th Fighter Group.

The 47 FS conducts advanced A-10 Thunderbolt II training.

The 47th Fighter Squadron was activated on 1 December 1940, as the 47th Pursuit Squadron, one of three squadrons assigned to the 15th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Field, territory of Hawaii. The squadron also flew missions from Hawaiian stations of Bellows Field, Haleiwa Fighter Strip and Mokuleia Army Airfield, as well as Barking Sands Army Airfield. The 47th Pursuit Squadron participated in numerous campaigns from 1940 to 1945, flying P-10,P-26, P-36 Hawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, and P-51 Mustang aircraft. The squadron was credited with shooting down eight Japanese aircraft on 7 December 1941, before being inactivated on 15 October 1946, at Wheeler Field.

On 1 December 1952, the 47th was redesignated the 47th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and was activated at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport, New York, where it assumed the mission, personnel and equipment of the 136th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, a federalized New York Air National Guard unit that was returned to state control. Assigned to the 4708th Defense Wing under Air Defense Command, the squadron flew F-47 aircraft. In February 1953 the 47th was reassigned to the 518th Air Defense Group. It upgraded to Mighty Mouse rocket armed and airborne intercept radar equipped F-86D Sabre Interceptors in September 1953. In 1957 the squadron began re-equipping with the North American F-86L Sabre, an improved version of the F-86D which incorporated data link to communicate directly with the Semi Automatic Ground Environment, computer-controlled direction system for intercepts. The service of the F-86L was destined to be quite brief, since by the time the last F-86L conversion was delivered, the type was already being phased out in favor of supersonic interceptors. In May 1958 the Sabres were replaced by F-102 Delta Daggers. On 1 July 1960, the 47th was again inactivated.