76th Fighter Squadron

76th Fighter Squadron
Battle damage to a 23d Tac Fighter Wing A-10 from an SA-16 missile during Desert Storm
Active	17 December 1941–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Fighter
Engagements	World War II Iraqi War
Insignia
76th Fighter Squadron emblem (approved 1 August 2000)
Patch with 76th Fighter Squadron emblem (approved 24 July 1944)

The 76th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve unit. It is assigned to the 476th Fighter Group and stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

During World War II, the 76th Fighter Squadron was one of the three original squadrons (74th, 75th, 76th) of the 23d Fighter Group.

The history of the 76th dates to the earliest days of World War II. During the summer of 1941, Claire Lee Chennault formed a small group of American pilots into three fighter squadrons, the American Volunteer Group, of the Chinese Air Force. The unit immediately garnered international attention for their combat successes while defending China and Burma, and they became known as the "Flying Tigers." Some members of the AVG joined or rejoined the United States Air Force after the AVG was disbanded.

The 76th squadron remained in combat in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater from 18 July 1942 to 11 August 1945, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation for missions in China in June 1944.

After World War II, the squadron performed air defense intercept operations in Guam, 1946–1949, in Panama, 1949, and at various bases in the eastern United States, 1955-1963.

By 1960 the squadron was stationed at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida. In 1960, "in order to position its diminishing interceptor force as nearly astride enemy approaches as possible", Air Defense Command received approval to move the squadron from McCoy to Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts. It disposed of its Northrop F-89 Scorpions by the end of 1960. Between February and April 1961, the squadron had re-equipped with Convair F-102 Delta Daggers. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Air Force decided to station a full squadron of interceptors at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. This squadron was to be equipped with F-104A Starfighters, but the Air Force had transferred all its F-104 interceptors to the Air National Guard. F-104s were withdrawn from the 159th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the South Carolina Air National Guard and sent to Homestead. In turn, the F-102s at Westover were used to re-equip the 159th and the 76th was inactivated.