5th Flying Training Squadron The 5th Flying Training Squadron ( 5 FTS ) is part of the 71st Flying Training Wing based at Vance Air Force Base , Oklahoma . It operates T - 1 Jayhawk aircraft conducting flight training . History . World War II . Established as an Army Air Corps fighter squadron in January 1941 ; assigned to the Northeast Air District with P - 40s and P - 39s as part of the defense buildup prior to the United States entry into World War II . Was deployed to the European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) , assigned to VIII Fighter Command in August 1942 . It ' s P - 39 Aircobra s were deemed unsuitable for the environment for escort duty ; was re - equipped with Supermarine Spitfires and was trained by the Royal Air Force . Flew some escort missions with VIII Bomber Command B - 17 Flying Fortress es and B - 24 Liberator s during the fall of 1942 . Was sent to North Africa in late 1942 as part of the Operation Torch invasion forces , taking up station in Algeria . Was reassigned to Twelfth Air Force and flew both fighter escort missions for the B - 17 Flying Fortress es operating from Algeria as well as tactical interdiction strikes on enemy targets of opportunity in Algeria and Tunisia during the North African Campaign . Following the German defeat and withdrawal from North Africa the squadron participated in the Allied Invasion of Sicily and Invasion of Italy and subsequent drive of the United States Fifth Army up the Italian Peninsula . Engaged primarily in tactical operations after November 1943 , supporting ground forces and attacking enemy targets of opportunity such as railroads , road convoys , bridges , strafing enemy airfields and other targets . Was deployed to Corsica in 1944 to attack enemy targets in support of Free French forces in the liberation of the island and to support Allied Forces in the invasion of Southern France . Continued offensive operations until the German Capitulation in May 1945 . Returned to the United States and was demobilized during the summer and fall 1945 and inactivated . Air Defense Command . Reactivated in 1946 as a United States Air Forces in Europe fighter squadron ; was primarily an occupation unit at Schweinfurt and Bad Kissingen Airfields . Reassigned from USAFE to Air Defense Command in June 1947 , equipped with F - 61 Black Widow s and assigned to Mitchell Field , New York to perform air defense of the eastern United States . In June 1948 the unit transitioned into F - 82 Twin Mustang s . In the fall of 1949 the unit moved to McGuire AFB , New Jersey . In August 1955 the 5th FIS designation was transferred to Suffolk County AFB , New York . In the spring of 1957 the unit transitioned into F - 102A Delta Dagger s . In February 1960 the 5th FIS moved to Minot AFB , North Dakota and transitioned into the F - 106 Delta Dart . In late 1962 the 5th FIS acquired two live lynx kittens ( " Spitten " and " Kitten " ) as mascots , with the assistance of the " Minot Daily News " , after a farmer had killed their mother . In the mid - 1980s the 5th FIS converted to the F - 15 Eagle s . The F - 15s only flew over Minot until the spring of 1988 , when the 5th FIS was inactivated . The lynx den in the squadron was one of the few places where Canadian Lynx had bred in captivity in the U . S . , prompting both the St . Louis and San Diego Zoos to copy it in an attempt to get their own lynx inhabitants to produce offspring . Several generations of lynx flourished there , and after the unit was inactivated , Delta and Dart , twin kitten descendants of the original two Lynx kitten mascots were donated to the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot . As an Air Defense Command unit , the squadron ' s motto was " Isti Non Penetrabunt " , literally " they shall not penetrate " , but colloquially to crews as " The Bastards Shall Not Pass " . Modern era . Reactivated in 1990 as an Air Training Command ( later AETC ) Undergraduate Pilot Training squadron at Vance AFB . The squadron had trained pilots and pilot instructors from , February 1990 – December 1991 and since 1997 .