349th Night Fighter Squadron

The squadron was formed in October 1942 from elements of the 81st Fighter Squadron as part of the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT) Fighter Command School at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida. Its personnel being veteran American pilots trained by the Royal Air Force in night interception operations. It was initially equipped with three Douglas DB-7s and twenty-three Douglas P-70s. Shortages in operational flying aircraft, spare parts and other issues kept flying training very rudimentary for the squadrons first classes that graduated in December 1942.^[1]

As 1943 progressed additional aircraft and equipment arrived and the program expanded. In September, the first American-built dedicated night fighters began to arrive, the Northrup YP-61 Black Widow and a few production P-61As. In January 1944 the entire program moved to Hammer Field, California and was placed under IV Fighter Command. The move placed the squadron near the Northrop Aircraft manufacturing facility at Hawthorne, California and most programmed P-61 squadrons were planned for operations in the Pacific and China Burma India Theaters.^[1]

In March 1944 the 349th was disbanded when the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit during a reorganization of units in the United States.^[2] The squadron's personnel and equipment were transferred to Squadron B of the 450th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Night Fighter Replacement Training Unit).^[1]

• Constituted as the 349th Night Fighter Squadron on 1 October 1942

Activated on 1 October 1942

Disbanded on 31 March 1944^[3]

• Fighter Command School, Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics (AAFSAT), 21 January 1943
• Air Defense Department, AAFSAT, 18 February 1943
• Night Fighter Division, AAFSAT, 1 April 1943

Attached to 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group, 17 July 1943

• 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group, 26 July 1943 – 31 March 1944^[3]

• Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, 4 October 1942
• Kissimmee Army Airfield, Florida, 1 January 1943
• Hammer Field, California, 16 January – 31 March 1944^[3]

• A-20/DB-7/P-70 Havoc, 1942–1944
• Douglas B-18 Bolo, 1943–1944
• YP-61 Black Widow, 1943–1944^[3]

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• Operational - Replacement Training Units

Explanatory notes

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016.
• Northrop P-61 Black Widow—The Complete History and Combat Record, Garry R. Pape, John M. Campbell and Donna Campbell, Motorbooks International, 1991.