612th Tactical Fighter Squadron The 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last was assigned to the 401st Tactical Fighter Wing , stationed at Torrejon Air Base , Spain . It was inactivated on 1 October 1991 . History . World War II . Organization and training for combat . The 612th Bombardment Squadron was activated March 1943 at Ephrata Army Air Base Washington as one of the original squadrons of the 401st Bombardment Group . The initial cadre for the squadron was drawn from the 395th Bombardment Group at Ephrata and the 383d Bombardment Group at Rapid City Army Air Field , South Dakota . The cadre soon departed for Orlando Army Air Base , Florida , where they conducted simulated combat missions with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics out of Brooksville Army Air Field . The ground echelon moved to Geiger Field , Washington in May 1943 and to Great Falls AAB , Mount in July . At Great Falls the first combat crews were assigned to the squadron . In the final stage of training the squadrons dispersed with the 612th remaining at Great Falls , while the other squadrons trained at bases in Montana and Wyoming . After completing training the ground echelon left for overseas on 19 October 1943 . After staging at Camp Shanks , New York they embarked on the RMS Queen Mary and sailed on 27 October disembarking at Greenock on the Firth of Clyde on 3 November 1943 . The air echelon staged for deployment at Scott Field , Illinois then flew to England under the control of Air Transport Command via Newfoundland , Iceland and Scotland . Combat in the European Theater of Operations . On arrival in England , half of the 401st group ' s aircrew s were immediately reassigned to the 351st Bombardment Group . The rest of the squadron became part of Eighth Air Force at RAF Deenethorpe . The 612th became part of the 92d Combat Bombardment Wing of the 1st Bombardment Division . Its tail code was Triangle - S . On 26 November the 612th flew its first combat mission against Bremen , Germany . The 401st group did not suffer the combat loss of an airplane until its ninth mission on 30 December . The squadron operated chiefly against strategic targets , bombing industries , submarine facilities , shipyards , missile sites , marshalling yards , and airfields . On 11 January 1944 the squadron was in the lead group of the 1st Bombardment Division in an attack against aircraft manufacturing facilities at Ochsersleben , Germany . Although the bombers were able to attack , poor weather conditions prevented the division from receiving effective fighter cover . For over three hours the bomber formation suffered more than 400 attacks by Luftwaffe fighters , including air - to - air rocket attacks . Despite these attacks the unit continued its attack and struck a telling blow against German aircraft production for which the squadron was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) . A little over a month later , on 20 February , the squadron earned its second DUC for an attack on the Erla Maschinenwerke aircraft manufacturing facilities in Leipzig , Germany . Despite fighter attacks and battle damage to the 612th ' s planes , 100 % of the unit ’ s bombs fell within 1000 feet of the aiming point . Beginning in October 1944 , the unit concentrated its attacks on Axis oil reserves . In addition to strategic missions , squadron operations included attacks on transportation , airfields , and fortifications prior to the Normandy invasion . On D - Day the 612th attacked Normandy beachhead areas dropping bombs five minutes before troops landed . The following month it provided close air support for the breakthrough at Saint - Lô , it also supported the siege of Brest in August and Operation Market Garden in September . During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945 , the unit attacked transportation and communications in the battle area . It supported airborne forces involved in Operation Varsity in March 1945 . The squadron flew its last combat mission on 20 April 1945 against Brandenberg . It had flown 254 combat missions from Deenethorpe airfield . After V - E Day , the squadron flew missions to Linz , Austria to evacuate British and French prisoners of war . It also flew Trolley sightseeing missions at low level , flying ground support personnel over the Ruhr and Frankfurt am Main to see the damage that had been done as a result of their efforts . The unit was alerted for redeployment to the Pacific Theater and the last plane departed Deenethorpe in early June . The ground echelon sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on the fifth . Upon arrival in the US , personnel were granted thirty days leave , reassembling at Sioux Falls Army Air Field , South Dakota , but plans had changed and personnel were either transferred to Boeing B - 29 Superfortress units or processed for discharge and the squadron was inactivated . Reserve Operations . Assigned to Air Force Reserve January 1947 . Never equipped or manned , inactivated 1949 . Cold War . Allocated to Tactical Air command , 1953 and reactivated as a Fighter - Bomber , later Tactical Fighter squadron . Performed routine deployments and exercises 1954 - 1965 . Reassigned to Japan in 1965 as part of air defense mission over Japan and South Korea , performed rotational deployments to South Korean air bases . Deployed to South Vietnam in 1971 for close air support and interdiction combat missions in support of South Vietnamese operations in Laos and Cambodia AORs , March – July 1971 . Redeployed to NATO in mid - 1971 as part of USAF drawdown of forces in Indochina . Assigned to USAFE in Spain , performed routine deployments and exercises . Inactivated in 1991 as part of USAF drawdown of forces in Europe after the end of the Cold War .