612th Tactical Fighter Squadron

612th Tactical Fighter Squadron
F-16A 81-0790 from the 612th TFS carrying Mark 82 bombs on its wing pylons and an AN/ALQ-131 ECM pod on the centerline over the Konya Range on 7 May 1986.
Active	1943-1945, 1949-1951, 1954-1991
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Fighter
Nickname(s)	Fighting 612th
Insignia
612th Tactical Fighter Squadron patch showing squadron emblem (approved 15 September 1955)
612th Bombardment Squadron Emblem
ETO Fuselage Code	FN

The 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing, stationed at Torrejon Air Base, Spain. It was inactivated on 1 October 1991.

The 612th Bombardment Squadron was activated March 1943 at Ephrata Army Air Base Washington as one of the original squadrons of the 401st Bombardment Group. The initial cadre for the squadron was drawn from the 395th Bombardment Group at Ephrata and the 383d Bombardment Group at Rapid City Army Air Field, South Dakota. The cadre soon departed for Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, where they conducted simulated combat missions with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics out of Brooksville Army Air Field.

The ground echelon moved to Geiger Field, Washington in May 1943 and to Great Falls AAB, Mount in July. At Great Falls the first combat crews were assigned to the squadron. In the final stage of training the squadrons dispersed with the 612th remaining at Great Falls, while the other squadrons trained at bases in Montana and Wyoming.

After completing training the ground echelon left for overseas on 19 October 1943. After staging at Camp Shanks, New York they embarked on the RMS Queen Mary and sailed on 27 October disembarking at Greenock on the Firth of Clyde on 3 November 1943. The air echelon staged for deployment at Scott Field, Illinois then flew to England under the control of Air Transport Command via Newfoundland, Iceland and Scotland.