page_title: 459th Flying Training Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 459th Flying Training Squadron / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Ground crew members of the 459th Fighter Squadron, nicknamed the "Twin Dragon Squadron", working on a Lockheed P-38 at an air base in Chittagong, India (now Bangladesh) - January 1945. (72611 A.C.) .
context_page_description: The 459th Flying Training Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron tasked with providing undergraduate flying training for Euro-NATO joint jet pilot candidates. Based at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, the unit draws its lineage from a fighter squadron that served in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, where it saw service against the Japanese. The squadron currently consists of instructors from seven different NATO countries.
context_section_description: The squadron was activated in August 1943 with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and joined the 80th Fighter Group, whose three squadrons of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks had arrived in India in June.  The group completed the China-Burma-India Theater training and entered combat in September.
  It supported Allied forces during the battles for northern Burma and the advance toward Rangoon bombing and strafing troop concentrations, supply dumps and lines of communications. The squadron helped protect bases in India from which cargo aircraft of Air Transport Command flew missions over the Hump to supply forces in China.  It patrolled allied airfields and attacked Japanese airfields from which enemy interceptors operated. The 459th was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for destroying 119 enemy aircraft between 11 March and 19 May 1944.
  The 459th Received a second DUC for intercepting a large formation of enemy aircraft while defending an allied oil refinery in Assam, India on 27 March 1944.  The squadron was credited with 66 aerial victory credits between 1 December 1943 and 13 January 1945.  The first victory was earned by Capt. Hampton Boggs, who went on to become one of the squadron's aces.  The unit continued in combat until about 6 May 1945. Shortly thereafter, it was transferred to the 33d Fighter Group, returning with the 33d to the United States, where it was inactivated at the New York Port of Embarkation on 5 November 1945.
caption: Repairs to P-38 by 459th Fighter Squadron at Chittagong, India – January 1945
exif: {}