Fighter Squadron facts

While investigating facts about Fighter Squadron Movie and Fighter Squadron 1948, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Bob Barker was trained as a Navy fighter pilot in WW2, but wasn't sent to a fleet squadron in time to fight. He once said: "I was all ready to go, and when the enemy heard that I was headed for the Pacific, they surrendered. That was the end of World War II."

how many fighter jets in a squadron?

In 1991 an F-15 fighter achieved an air-to-air kill using a 2000lb bomb. The USAF F-15E Strike Eagle of the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron released a GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb which, after 30 seconds of flight, impacted an Iraqi Air Force Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship.

What was the best fighter squadron of ww2?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is a strike fighter squadron. Here are 22 of the best facts about Fighter Squadron Size and Fighter Squadron Names I managed to collect.

what is a fighter squadron?

1. The highest scoring fighter pilot in history was thrown in a Soviet Gulag after the war, and knocked out an interrogator by hitting him with his chair. When he was placed in solitary confinement, the entire camp rioted. He survived the gulag and went on to lead Germany's first post war squadron.

2. After both of the leaders of his squadron were shot down over Vietnam, Merlyn Dethlefsen flew his damaged fighter back through enemy air defenses to scare off enemy fighters, then knocked out both missile sites defending the target. Saving 70 of the 72 friendly aircraft following him.

3. During the Battle of Britain, German ace Adolf Galland was asked what his pilots needed to defeat the British. He replied "I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron"; Galland had found that the British fighter was much more maneuverable than his own Bf 109 aircraft.

4. A squadron of F-22 Raptors, the most advanced fighter jet in the world, suffered computer crashes due to crossing the international date line

5. In WWII a Brit fighter ace lost his arm in a dogfight, so the RAF medical staff made him a custom prosthetic so he could keep fighting. He would later become squadron commander

6. Captain Benjamin O. Davis Jr. commanded the 99th Fighter Squadron at Tuskegee. He was the first African-American to serve as a general in the United States Army.

7. A fighter squadron in the New Mexico Air National Guard is nicknamed "The Tacos."

8. In the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, North Korea sent a MiG squadron to fight on behalf of Egypt. Israel was using the new F-4E Phantom fighters which in fact provided the USA the opportunity to battle-test those brand new planes against the MiGs.

9. Jan Zumbach, a Polish fighter pilot in WWII who fought under the allegiance of France, and was a commander of a Polish fighter squadron in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. After the war he became a mercenary pilot for various air forces in Africa.

10. In WWII the Soviets had a squadron of female fighter pilots that were so fearsome the Nazis nicknamed them "Night Witches"

Why do fighter jets escort planes?

You can easily fact check why fighter jets escort planes by examining the linked well-known sources.

There were two von Richthofen brothers, Manfred (the Red Baron) and Lothar. Both were high-scoring fighter aces during WWI, and both commanded the same elite fighter squadron.

The No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron, a group of Polish aces in exile who became the RAF's single most effective squadron in the Second World War. - source

The US Navy built a fighter with a jet engine in the back and a propeller in the front. A squadron of Ryan FR Fireballs were built before the end of WWII but never saw action. - source

The USAF Thunderbirds aircraft are taken from the standard USAF inventory as production fighters, and can be returned to an operational squadron in short order without any major modification.

There is a former Yugoslavian airbase inside Plješevica Mountain between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It contained a network of tunnels that ran all the way through the mountain. Containing 5 runways, it could house 2 full fighter squadrons. - source

When were fighter planes invented?

Mohinder Singh Pujji was a Indian Sikh fighter pilot and squadron leader that served in the RAF on the western front, Burma and North Africa in WWII. He later became an air race pilot, an airline pilot and an ATC operator.

How many fighter planes in one squadron in india?

The US Navy built two rigid airships in the early 1930s that served as flying aircraft carriers from which a squadron of five fighter planes could launch and land

The US Jolly Rogers fighter squadron, with a pirate flag patch, was disbanded on October 1, 1995

In WW2 there was a badass all-female squadron of Soviet fighter pilots whom the Germans nicknamed "The Night Witches"

201st Fighter Squadron (Mexico) was a Mexican fighter squadron, part of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force that aided the Allied war effort during World War II. The 201st Mexican Squadron was given credit for putting out of action about 30,000 Japanese troops