352d Tactical Fighter Squadron The 352d Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force fighter squadron . Its last assignment was with the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing at Phan Rang Air Base , South Vietnam , where it was inactivated on 31 July 1971 . The first predecessor of the squadron was activated in 1943 as the 372d Fighter Squadron , which served as a Lockheed P - 38 Lightning Replacement Training Unit until it was disbanded in 1944 . The second predecessor of the squadron was the 652d Bombardment Squadron , which conducted weather reconnaissance in the European Theater of Operations . The 352d Fighter - Day Squadron was formed during the Cold War , the squadron was attached to NATO , and stood on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis . Deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War , the squadron fought with distinction . The squadron was inactivated in 1971 . History . World War II . Fighter Replacement Training . The 372d Fighter Squadron was activated in early 1943 at March Field , California as one of the three original squadrons of the 360th Fighter Group , but moved on paper to Glendale Airport the same day . It operated as a Lockheed P - 38 replacement training unit . Replacement training units were oversized units which trained aircrew s prior to their deployment to combat theaters . In January 1944 the squadron moved away from its parent group and established a separate RTU at Santa Maria Army Air Field , California . 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 . This resulted in the 372d , along with other units at Santa Maria , being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 440th AAF Base Unit ( Fighter Replacement Training Unit , Twin Engine ) . Weather Reconnaissance in the European Theater . The second predecessor of the squadron was the 652d Bombardment Squadron , which conducted weather reconnaissance in the European Theater of Operations . The 652d Bombardment Squadron replaced what began as a provisional weather reconnaissance detachment that was formed on 31 August 1943 with Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress es , then transferred to RAF St Eval on 8 September 1943 to conduct meteorological fights over the Atlantic Ocean . On 25 October 1943 this provisional unit was formalized as Detachment A of the Combat Weather Detachment , 1st Combat Crew Replacement Center at RAF Bovingdon . On 23 November 1943 the detachment joined its parent at Bovingdon . On 28 March 1944 Eighth Air Force replaced the detachment with the 8th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron ( Heavy ) ( Provisional ) . The squadron was one of the three squadrons of the 8th Reconnaissance Group ( Provisional ) ( later the 802d Reconnaissance Group , Special ( Provisional ) . In August 1944 Eighth Air Force replaced its provisional weather reconnaissance units with permanent ones and the 652d was activated . The 652d primarily flew B - 17Gs , although at first it also had B - 24Ds and B - 24Hs . Its missions were long - range weather flights code named " Epicure " In which the aircraft flew a box pattern 700 miles out over the Atlantic . Weather readings were taken every 50 miles at heights varying from 50 to 30 , 000 feet . The average flight time for these flights was over 12 hours . For thirteen months the squadron maintained an average of 1 . 5 aircraft in the air over the Atlantic at all hours of the day and night , and for the last nine months of the war the average exceeded two aircraft in the air for all hours of the day and night . When its parent 25th Bombardment Group returned to the United States after the German surrender in May 1945 , the 652d was assigned to 1st Air Division and continued to fly weather missions . The squadron returned to the United States in December and was inactivated when it reached the Port of Embarkation . Cold War . On 25 September 1957 Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) activated the 352d Fighter - Day Squadron and assigned it to the 354th Fighter - Day Wing at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base , South Carolina . The squadron was equipped with the North American F - 100 Super Sabre . The 354th wing was committed to NATO support , and the squadron frequently deployed to Europe . It deployed to Adana Air Base , Turkey in July 1958 in response to the Crisis in Lebanon , to support the pro - western government of Lebanon , which believed itself threatened by internal dissension supported by the United Arab Republic . The squadron returned in October . After the Lebanon Crisis , TAC began to rotate combat squadrons to Incirlik Air Base , Turkey and Aviano Air Base , Italy in support of NATO alert commitments and Air Force weapons training at the Maniago Range . The 352d , along with the 354th wing ' s other squadrons periodically supported these rotations . During the Berlin Crisis precipitated by the erection of the Berlin Wall by the German Democratic Republic in August 1961 and the subsequent face - off of American and Soviet tanks in Berlin , the squadron deployed to Hahn AB , German Federal Republic , in November 1961 . Once tensions eased , the squadron returned in March 1962 . The squadron deployed a third time in response to a Cold War crisis , but this time the deployment was closer to home . During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 , the 352 TFS deployed to McCoy AFB , Florida in October where it became part of the forces attached to the Air Division , Provisional , 2d . After the crisis ended , the 352d returned home in December . Vietnam War . As the intensity of the Viet Nam War increased in 1966 , The United States Air Force began to replace its rotational units on temporary duty in Southeast Asia with permanent ones . As a result , the 352d Tactical Fighter Squadron moved to Phan Rang Air Base , South Vietnam on 15 August 1966 , where it was assigned to the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing . Two months later Pacific Air Forces moved the 366th Wing to Da Nang Air Base where it became a F - 4 Phantom II wing , while the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing took its place at at Phan Rang , with F - 100 Super Sabre squadrons in a swap of wing headquarters designations . Squadron missions included close air support of ground forces , air interdiction , visual and armed air reconnaissance , escort , and rapid reaction alert . During the Cambodian Campaign of 1970 , the 352d struck enemy bases and supply caches in the Parrot ' s Beak area just inside the Cambodian border during April and May . The 352d also provided close air support and interdiction in support of South Vietnamese operations in Laos and Cambodia during January through June 1971 . In April 1971 the 352d began phasing down for inactivation and flew its last combat mission on 26 June 1971 . The squadron was inactivated permanently , along with the 35th TFW on 31 July 1971 as part of the American drawdown in Vietnam . The squadron was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation and four Air Force Outstanding Unit Award s w / Combat " V " Device for its combat performance . Consolidation . In September 1985 , the three squadrons were consolidated under the 352d Tactical Fighter Squadron designation , but have remained inactive . Lineage . 372d Fighter Squadron 652d Bombardment Squadron 352d Tactical Fighter Squadron