page_title: 509th Tactical Fighter Squadron
section_title: Air defense in the Pacific
hierarchical_section_title: 509th Tactical Fighter Squadron / History / Air defense in the Pacific
caption_attribution_description: English: 509th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Convair TF-102A-30-CO Delta Dagger 55-4042, Clark Air Base, Philippines, 1962
context_page_description: The 509th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 10th Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Alconbury, England, where it was inactivated on 30 December 1992.
  The squadron was first activated as the 624th Bombardment Squadron in 1943, changing to the 509th Fighter-Bomber Squadron a few months later. After training in the United States, it moved to England in March 1944, helping prepare for Operation Overlord by attacking targets in France. Following D-Day, the squadron moved to the continent, providing close air support for Allied forces. The squadron earned a Distinguished Unit Citation and was cited in the Order of the Day by the Belgian Army. After V-E Day The squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation.
  The squadron was activated again in 1952, when it replaced an Air National Guard squadron that had been mobilized for the Korean War. It trained for fighter bomber operations until inactivating in 1958. A year later, it was activated in the Philippines as the 509th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron with an air defense mission.
context_section_description: The squadron was redesignated the 509th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and activated in April 1959, when the 405th Fighter Wing replaced the 6200th Air Base Wing at Clark Air Base, Philippines.  The squadron assumed the mission, personnel and North American F-86D Sabres of the 26th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated. The following year, the squadron replaced its Sabres with Convair F-102 Delta Daggers, which were armed with AIM-4 Falcons and equipped with data link for intercept control.
  The squadron mission was air defense of the Philippines, but as the only USAF interceptor unit in the southern Pacific, the squadron was called on to deploy elements to other countries. One of the earliest deployments was to Don Muang Airport outside Bangkok, Thailand of six F-102s under Operation Bell Tone. It also deployed to Taiwan.  In March 1962, the American radar unit at Pleiku Air Base began to detect unknown aircraft entering South Vietnamese airspace.  In response, the squadron sent a detachment of four "Deuces" to Tan Son Nhut Airport, near Saigon.  One was a two-seat TF-102, which proved better at intercepting the slow-moving aircraft used for training to simulate the intruders.  As a result, more TF-102s were drawn from Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces for the detachment.  In July, the squadron's planes were replaced by Navy Douglas AD-5Q Q-Birds, and the Air Force and Navy began a series of six-week rotations for air defense in Vietnam.
  The Gulf of Tonkin Incident resulted in another deployment of squadron interceptors to Vietnam.  On 5 August 1964, six F-102s deployed from Clark to Da Nang Air Base in the northern part of South Vietnam. By the end of 1966, the squadron was maintaining six planes on alert at Bien Hoa Air Base in addition to the six at Da Nang, with another ten located in Thailand at Don Muang and at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base.  After June 1966, the detachments in Thailand were maintained jointly with the 64th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which had been activated as a second F-102 unit at Clark. Fourteen aircraft were kept on five-minute alert, while the rest were expected to respond within an hour.  Missions included providing top cover for Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses engaged in Operation Arc Light missions.  This alert commitment lasted until December 1969, and 15 F-102s were lost during Southeast Asia operations. The squadron's detachments in Thailand were closed under Projects Banner Star and Banner Sun and their planes returned to Clark. The squadron became nonoperational on 17 July 1970 and was inactivated a week later with the phaseout of the F-102 in the Pacific.
caption: Squadron TF-102 at Clark Air Base, Philippines in 1962[note 3]
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