54th Fighter Group The 54th Fighter Group ( Air Defense ) is an inactive United States Air Force unit , last assigned to the 30th Air Division of Air Defense Command ( ADC ) at Greater Pittsburgh Airport , Pennsylvania . The group was inactivated in early 1958 . History . World War II . The group was activated as the 54th Pursuit Group ( Interceptor ) at the beginning of 1941 at Hamilton Field , California . with the 42d , 56th , and 57th Pursuit Squadrons assigned . It trained with Curtiss P - 36 Hawk s and Curtiss P - 40 Warhawk s , then moved to Everett Army Air Field , where it served as a part of the air defense force for the northwest Pacific coast during the first few months of World War II . The group and its squadrons were redesignated as fighter units in May 1942 . The air echelon , equipped with Bell P - 39 Airacobra s , served in Alaska against the Japanese forces that invaded the Aleutian Islands during the summer of 1942 , and for these operations the group received a Distinguished Unit Citation . The air echelon returned to the US in December 1942 and rejoined the group , which had been assigned to Third AF in Louisiana , and became a replacement training unit ( RTU ) for North American P - 51 Mustang pilots . RTUs were oversized units training individual pilots or aircrew s . In early May 1943 , the group began a split operation , with headquarters and the 56th and 57th Fighter Squadrons relocating to Bartow Army Air Field , Florida , while the 42d was at Hillsborough Army Air Field . The AAF was finding 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 . As a result , in 1944 the group was disbanded as the AAF converted to the AAF Base Unit system . The units at Bartow were replaced by the 340th AAF Base Unit ( Replacement Training Unit , Fighter ) , while those at Hillsborough transferred their mission , equipment , and personnel to the 343d AAF Base Unit ( Replacement Training Unit , Fighter ) . Cold War . In 1955 , the group was redesignated as the 54th Fighter Group ( Air Defense ) and activated at Greater Pittsburgh Airport to replace the 500th Air Defense Group as part of ADC ' s Project Arrow , which was designed to bring back on the active list the fighter units which had compiled memorable records in the two world wars . The group assumed host responsibilities for the USAF portion of the airport and was assigned a USAF Dispensary , Air Base Squadron and Materiel Squadron to fulfill this responsibility . Because Project Arrow was also intended to reunite fighter squadrons with their former groups , the 42d Fighter - Interceptor Squadron , which was stationed at O ' Hare Airport moved to Pittsburgh and assumed the personnel and equipment of the 500th group ' s 71st Fighter - Interceptor Squadron , including its radar equipped and rocket armed North American F - 86 Sabre s . The squadron transitioned into data link equipped F - 86Ls in the spring of 1957 for interception control through the Semi - Automatic Ground Environment system and flew them until the group and squadron were inactivated in early 1958 . Lineage . Components . Operational Squadrons Support Units