page_title: 535th Airlift Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 535th Airlift Squadron / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Affectionately nicknamed "Jug," the P-47 was one of the most famous AAF fighter planes of WW II. Although originally conceived as a lightweight interceptor, the P-47 developed as a heavyweight fighter. English: P-47 "Thunderbolt" Français&#160;: P-47 "Thunderbolt"
context_page_description: The 535th Airlift Squadron is part of the 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. It operates C-17 Globemaster III aircraft providing airlift in the Pacific theater.
  The squadron was first established during World War II as the 535th Fighter Squadron. It served as a Replacement Training Unit for Republic P-47 Thunderbolt pilots until it was disbanded in a major reorganization of the Army Air Forces in 1944 designed to streamline training organizations. In 1949, the squadron was reactivated in the Air Force Reserve and served as a corollary unit of the active duty 27th Fighter Group and later, as the 535th Fighter-Escort Squadron of the 12th Fighter-Escort Group until it was ordered to active service in 1951. Its personnel were used to man active duty units and the squadron was inactivated. The squadron was redesignated in 1952 as the 535th Troop Carrier Squadron, and activated at Atterbury Air Force Base to replace elements of the 923d Reserve Training Wing. The following year the squadron was inactivated and replaced at Atterbury by the 71st Troop Carrier Squadron.
context_section_description: The squadron was first established as the 535th Fighter Squadron and was activated in November 1943 at Richmond Army Air Base, Virginia. as one of the four original squadrons of the 87th Fighter Group. The squadron began operations with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).  RTUs were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters and assignment to an operational group. In January 1944, group headquarters and the squadron moved to Camp Springs Army Air Field, Maryland and the group's remaining squadrons transferred to Millville Army Air Field, New Jersey.
  However, 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. while the groups and squadrons acting as RTUs were disbanded or inactivated. This resulted in the squadron being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 112th AAF Base Unit (Fighter), which assumed its mission, personnel, and equipment.
caption: P-47 Thunderbolt as used by the 535th Fighter Squadron for training
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Affectionately nicknamed \"Jug,\" the P-47 was one of the most famous AAF fighter planes of WW II. Although originally conceived as a lightweight interceptor, the P-47 developed as a heavyweight fighter.", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:03:09 08:54:29", "Image ExifOffset": "368", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "506", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8921", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3202", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2400"}