46th Fighter Training Squadron The 46th Fighter Training Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last assignment was with the 917th Operations Group stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base , Louisiana . It was inactivated on 1 October 1993 . History . The 46th , who was initially assigned to the 15th Fighter / Pursuit Group , its history goes back to World War II , when the 15th Pursuit Group was largely destroyed during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at Hickam Field . World War II . After the Pearl Harbor Attack , the squadron was assigned to the VII Fighter Command . Re - equipped initially with P - 39 Aircobra s and P - 40 Warhawk s , ts primary mission was the air defense of the Hawaiian Islands . In 1943 , the squadron deployed to the Central Pacific Area , engaging in combat from Makin Island in December 1943 . Returned to Hawaii and was again re - equipped with very long - range P - 38 Lightning s and P - 51D Mustang s . In early March 1945 deployed to Iwo Jima , being attached to the Twentieth Air Force . From Iwo Jima , the squadron performed escort missions with B - 29 Superfortress bombers bombing the Japanese Home Islands . After the Japanese Surrender in September 1945 , the squadron moved to Guam , where it operated until demobilizing and inactivating in October 1946 . United States Air Force . Reactivated in 1952 at Dover AFB , Delaware and assigned to Air Defense Command . Equipped with F - 94 Starfire interceptors , the squadron ' s mission was the air defense of southeastern Pennsylvania , south New Jersey , Delaware and Maryland , inactivated in 1958 due to budget reductions . Was reactivated in 1962 at MacDill AFB , Florida , equipped with swept - wing F - 84F Thunderflash tactical fighters . Received new F - 4C Phantom II in 1964 , one of the first squadrons in the Air Force to fly the new fighter . Conducted tactical fighter combat crew training for the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing . The squadron participated in a variety of exercises , operations and readiness tests of Tactical Air Command , becoming a replacement training unit for F - 4 aircrews prior to their deployment to Southeast Asia beginning in 1965 . During the 1968 Pueblo Crisis , the squadron deployed fighters to Seymour Johnson AFB , North Carolina , backfilling fighters deployed to South Korea by the 4th Tactical Fighter Squadron . Transferred to the incoming 1st Tactical Fighter Wing in 1970 when the wing was moved from ADC to TAC . Inactivated in 1971 , personnel and aircraft being transferred to the 71st Tactical Fighter Squadron when the former 15th TFW units were inactivated . Reactivated in the Air Force Reserve in 1975 at Grissom AFB , Indiana , receiving A - 37B Dragonfly counter - insurgency aircraft returned from the Vietnam War . Provided combat crew training in close air support tactics for USAF and friendly foreign nations until inactivated in 1978 , transferring the A - 37s to the 706th Tactical Fighter Squadron . Equipped with A - 10A Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft in 1983 at Barksdale AFB , Louisiana , mission was to be an A - 10 Replacement Training Unit ( RTU ) for Air Force Reserve pilots . Operated the A - 10 at Barksdale until inactivated in 1993 as part of the post - Cold War drawdown , aircraft transferred to Davis - Monthan AFB , Arizona where A - 10 training was consolidating with the active - duty 355th Wing .