54th Fighter Squadron
The 54th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was to the 3d Operations Group, being stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. It was inactivated on 28 April 2000. History. World War II. Activated on 15 Jan 1941 at Hamilton Field, California as a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk pursuit unit as part of the defense buildup of the United States prior to World War II. Deployed to Alaska in mid-1942 and engaged the Japanese during the Aleutian Campaign during World War II. Engaged in combat in the Aleutians, 1942–1943 with long -range Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. Remained in Alaska after the removal of Japanese forces, flying long range escorts for B-24 Liberator bombing attacks of northern Japanese Kurile Islands, inactivated in 1946. Air Defense. Reactivated in 1952 at Rapid City Air Force Base, South Dakota, assuming the personnel and aircraft of the 175th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, a North Dakota Air National Guard that had been called to active service for the Korean War and which returned to state control. Mission was to provide air defense for North Central United States. Assumed ANG North American F-51D Mustangs, upgraded to Republic F-84D Thunderjet jet  aircraft being returned from combat in Korea in July 1953. Upgraded to F-84Gs in December 1953; upgraded to North American F-86D Sabre in April 1954; upgraded to Northrop F-89J Scorpion interceptors in 1957. Inactivated on 25 December 1960. Return to Alaska. Reactivated as a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle air superiority squadron in Alaska in 1987, it provided air defense until being inactivated in 2000.