page_title: 97th Flying Training Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 97th Flying Training Squadron / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: A formation of P-38L Lightnings from the 96th Fighter Squadron, 82nd Fighter Group, 15th Air Force over Italy.
context_page_description: The 97th Flying Training Squadron is part of the 340th Flying Training Group and is the Reserve associate to the 80th Flying Training Wing based at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.
  The 97th flew combat in the European Theater of Operations and the Mediterranean Theater of Operations between 25 December 1942 and 3 May 1945.
  It flew fighter escort and air defense from, 1947–1949 and air defense from, 1951-1957.
  The squadron was redesignated as the 97th Flying Training Squadron and trained USAF pilots to fly supersonic jet aircraft from 1973 to 1993. Since 1998 it has trained fighter pilots for the United States as well as America's European and NATO allies.
context_section_description: The squadron was first activated in early 1942 at Harding Field, Louisiana as the 97th Pursuit Squadron, one of the original three squadrons of the 82d Pursuit Group.  It soon moved to California where it equipped with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and began training with Fourth Air Force as the 97th Fighter Squadron.  It left California in the fall and sailed for Northern Ireland, where it received additional combat training under Eighth Air Force.  A month after the initial Operation Torch landings in North Africa the squadron deployed to Algeria, where it entered combat as an element of Twelfth Air Force.
  In North Africa, the squadron flew antisubmarine patrols, bomber escort missions and attacked enemy shipping and airfields, moving its base east through Algeria and Tunisia.  As the North African campaign drew to a close, the unit began attacking targets in Italy, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions on 25 April 1943 during an attack on enemy airfields in Foggia.
  In September, the squadron participated in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, during which it was awarded a second Distinguished Unit Citation for a bomber escort mission against marshalling yards near Naples.  The squadron moved to Italy, where it became part of Fifteenth Air Force as part of the buildup to providee fighter cover for Fifteenth's heavy bombers.  On 10 June 1944 the squadron earned a third Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions during an attack on oil refineries in Ploiești, Romania.
  Following the surrender of Germany, the squadron remained in Italy until September 1945, when it was inactivated  In the course of the war the squadron was credited with the destruction of 146 enemy aircraft.
caption: P-38 Lightnings of the 82nd Fighter Group over Italy, 1944
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