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Constituted as 53rd Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 20 Nov 1940. Activated on 15 Jan 1941. Redesignated 53rd Fighter Group in May 1942. Trained with P-35's and P-40's. Moved to the Panama Canal Zone in Dec 1941 and equipped with P-39's for operations as part of the defense force for the canal. Returned to the US in Nov 1942 and assigned to Third AF. Trained replacement pilots in P-39, P-47, and P-51 aircraft. Disbanded on 1 May 1944.
Reconstituted and redesignated 53rd Fighter Group (Air Defense), on 20 Jun 1955. Activated on 18 Aug 1955. Assigned to Air Defense Command. Equipped first with F-86's, later with F-89's.
Squadrons. 13th: 1941-1944; 1955-. 14th: 1941-1944; 1955-. 15th: 1941-1944. 438th: 1943-1944.
Stations. MacDill Field, Fla, 15 Jan 1941; Tallahassee, Fla, 8 May-8 Dec 1941; Howard Field, CZ, 1 Jan-20 Nov 1942; Dale Mabry Field, Fla, 26 Nov 1942; Drew Field, Fla, 7 Jan 1943; Ft Myers, Fla, Feb 1943-1 May 1944. Sioux City Mun Aprt, Iowa, 18 Aug 1955-.
Commanders. Maj Hugo P Rush, 15 Jan 1941; Maj Eugene C Fleming, 9 May 1941; Col Earl W Barnes, 1 Jun 1941; Lt Col Don L Wilhelm Jr, 28 Jun 1942; Col Morley F Slaght, 11 Apr 1943; Lt Col Anthony V Grossetta, 22 Sep 1943; Col Bryan B Harper, Oct 1943-1 May 1944. Col Malcolm A Moore, Aug 1955-.
Campaigns. American Theater.
Decorations. None.
Insigne. Shield: Per bend azure and or, in chief an ancient Norse winged helmet argent, in base a palm tree proper. Motto: Defense By Offense. (Approved 8 Jan 1943. This insigne was modified 26 Jul 1956.)
Data from Air Force Combat Units of World War II By Maurer, Maurer, Published 1986
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Historical Artifacts: We are looking for photos, documents and other types of artifacts including uniforms, medals, insignia, gear, manuals, and training material. We accept electronic/scans or originals of pictures and paper records. A General Order could be an award document that contains information on many servicemen. Special Orders may contain transfers or other information. Flight records, accident reports, maintenance logs, after action reports, pilot encounter reports, diaries and biorgraphies; all of these types of documents help us support or mission: preserving your history! Contact us today for instructions on sending us this material. Contact Today
Are you an AAC, AAF or USAF Veteran, family member, historian or WW2 enthusiast? We Need YOU! Contact us today to see how you can help the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, a Texas Not-For-Profit Corporation. We need your help! We are looking for volunteers that can help us with the following tasks. Typing and Transcriptionists: One of our big projects is extracting data from the thousands of documents we have and putting this data into a database where we can display the information on a website such as this one. We also need assistance with retyping unit history documents.
