page_title: 31st Tactical Training Squadron
section_title: Defense of the Panama Canal
hierarchical_section_title: 31st Tactical Training Squadron / History / World War II / Defense of the Panama Canal
caption_attribution_description: English: 31st Pursuit Squadron Curtiss P-40C 41-13468 (Squadron #91) at La Joya Field #1 Panama, December 1942.
context_page_description: The 31st Tactical Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with 31st Tactical Training Wing at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, where it was inactivated on 9 May 1988.
  The squadron was first activated as the 31st Pursuit Squadron for the air defense of the Panama Canal shortly before the United States entered World War II. It served in this role until 1944 when the reduced threat to the canal and the Caribbean permitted its transfer to the United States, where it was inactivated. The squadron was reactivated a few months later as an element of the 412th Fighter Group, the first Army Air Forces unit equipped with jet fighters. It was inactivated in 1946 when the 412th group and its squadrons were replaced by elements of the 1st Fighter Group.
  In 1953, the squadron was activated as the 31st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, an air defense unit in the Pacific northwest. It was inactivated two years later in a major realignment of Air Defense Command fighter unit designations. It was again active in the air defense role from 1956 to 1958 in Michigan and Alaska.
context_section_description: The squadron was constituted in 1939 as the 31st Pursuit Squadron and activated on 1 February 1940 at Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone as one of the original squadrons of the 37th Pursuit Group. The unit was part of the build-up of the Canal Zone's defenses as war approached.   It was initially equipped with a mixture of second-line pursuit aircraft, including Boeing P-26A Peashooters, Northrup A-17 Nomads, and some North American BC-1s. The mission of the squadron was air defense of the Panama Canal.   In July 1941, the Squadron started re-equipping with new Curtiss P-40 Warhawks.  The Squadron was briefly moved to Rio Hato Field on 5 October 1940 and, following a month there, returned to Albrook on 13 November, where it remained until 24 November 1941.
  After the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Squadron was moved to La Chorrera Army Airfield where it shared the field with the 30th Pursuit Squadron. The unit operated as an element of the Panama Interceptor Command. On 15 May 1942, the squadron's designation was changed to 31st Fighter Squadron. In September 1942, the unit moved from Albrook to Howard Field and started to convert to Bell P-39 Airacobras.   In December, "E" Flight was moved to San Jose Airport, Costa Rica where it was almost immediately reassigned to the 53d Fighter Squadron.
  The unit served out the remainder of its Panama tour at several airfields until April 1944, and was moved to the United States as Sixth Air Force eliminated or transferred combat units in view of the reduced threat to the Panama Canal and Caribbean.  The squadron was to become a single-engine fighter Replacement Training Unit for Second Air Force at Lincoln Army Airfield, Nebraska, but it was inactivated seven weeks after it arrived at Lincoln.
caption: 31st Pursuit Squadron P-40 at La Joya Field[note 1]
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