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|image=415th Flight Test Flight - Northrop T-38-65-NO Talon 66-8367.jpg
|image_size=300px
|caption=A maintenance contractor performs final checks to a 415th Flight Test Flight [[T-38 Talon]] prior to taking off from [[Joint Base San Antonio<ref group=note>-Randolph]].{{efn|Aircraft is Northrop T-38-65-NO Talon, serial 66-8367,{{cite web |url= http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1966.html |last1=Baugher|first1=Joe |title=1966 USAF Serial Numbers|date=January 19, 2023|publisher=Joe Baugher|access-date=March 4, 2023}} piloted by the flight commander.</ref>}}
|dates=1942–1945; 1958–1962; 1989–1994; 2001–present
|dates= 3 February 1942 – Present
|country={{flag|United States|23pxUSA}}
|branch= {{air force|USA}}
|type=
|role=[[Flight Test]]
|size=
|command_structure= [[File:AFR Shield.svg|35px]]&nbsp; [[Air Force Reserve Command]]
|garrison= [[Randolph Field]], [[Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph]], Texas
|garrison_label=
|nickname=
|patron=
|motto=
|colors=
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|equipment=
|equipment_label=
|battles=[[Mediterranean Theater of Operations]]
|anniversaries=
|decorations=[[Distinguished Unit Citation]]<br/>[[Air Force Outstanding Unit Award]]
|decorations=[[Distinguished Unit Citation]]<br/>[[Air Force Outstanding Unit Award]]<ref name=415FTFfacts>{{cite web |url= http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10739 |last1=Haulman|first1=Daniel L.|title=Factsheet 415 Flight Test Flight (AFRC)|date=19 March 2015|publisher=Air Force Historical Research Agency|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150929002810/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10739 |archive-date=29 September 2015|access-date=24 May 2017}}</ref>▼
|battle_honours=
|battle_honours_label=
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<!-- Insignia -->
|identification_symbol=[[File:415thFlightTestSquadron.svg|165px]]
▲|decorationsidentification_symbol_label=[[Distinguished415th UnitFlight Citation]]<br/>[[AirTest ForceFlight Outstandingemblem Unit{{efn|Approved Award]]1 August 1989.}}<ref name=415FTFfacts>{{cite web |url= http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10739 |last1=Haulman|first1=Daniel L.|title=Factsheet 415 Flight Test Flight (AFRC)|date=19 March 2015|publisher=Air Force Historical Research Agency|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150929002810/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=10739 |archive-date=29 September 2015|access-date=24 May 2017}}</ref>
|identification_symbol_label=415th Flight Test Flight emblem <small>(approved 1 August 1989)</small><ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|identification_symbol_2=[[File:415th Bombardment Squadron - Emblem.png|165px|]]
|identification_symbol_2_label=Unofficial World War II 415th Bombardment Squadron emblem<ref>''See'' Maurer, ''Combat Squadrons'', p. 508 (no approved emblem prior to 1963)</ref>
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}}
 
The '''415th Flight Test Flight''' is a [[United States Air Force]] reserve squadronunit. It is assigned to the [[413th Flight Test Group]] of [[Air Force Reserve Command]], stationed at [[Randolph Field]], [[Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph]], Texas.
 
The squadron was first activated during [[World War II]] as the '''25th Reconnaissance Squadron'''. After redesignation as the '''415th Bombardment Squadron''', it saw combat in the [[Mediterranean Theater of Operations]], participating in the low level attack on [[oil refineries]] near [[Ploiești]], Romania. It earned two [[Distinguished Unit Citation]]s for its combat operations. After [[VE Day]] the squadron returned to the United States and trained with [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]]es until inactivating in Spring 1946.
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==Mission==
The 415th is a small unit, consisting of a handful of test pilots and a [[cadre (military)|cadre]] of [[noncommissioned officer]]s.<ref name=RandolphReservists/> The unit performs [[flight testing]] for [[Northrop T-38 Talon]] jet trainers at [[Randolph Air Force Base]]. The unit performs functional check flights, making sure the aircraft are ready to fly after undergoing modifications and repairs.<ref name=RandolphReservists>{{cite web|url= http://www.jbsa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123308869 |last1=Goetz|first1=Robert|title=Randolph reservists ensure health of T-38 fleet|date=6 July 2012|publisher=Joint Base San Antonio Public Affairs|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155857/http://www.jbsa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123308869 |archive-date=2 April 2015|access-date=25 May 2017}}</ref>▼
The 415th is a small unit, consisting of a handful of test pilots and a [[en cadre|cadre]] of other [[noncommissioned officer]]s.<ref name=RandolphReservists/>
 
The [[flight (military unit)|flight]] tests planes repaired or modified by the 571st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of the [[309th Maintenance Wing]], which performs T-38 overhauls at Randolph and handles depot maintenance of all T-38s in the Air Force, as well as some [[United States Navy|Navy]] T-38s. Planes are given functional check flights before delivery to the field. Flights last about an hour and certify the aircraft for flight. The tests are performed before the planes are returned to operational service. The flight also ferries T-38s between their bases and the repair depot.<ref name=RandolphReservists/>▼
▲The unit performs [[flight testing]] for [[Northrop T-38 Talon]] jet trainers at [[Randolph Air Force Base]]. The unit performs functional check flights, making sure the aircraft are ready to fly after undergoing modifications and repairs.<ref name=RandolphReservists>{{cite web|url= http://www.jbsa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123308869 |last1=Goetz|first1=Robert|title=Randolph reservists ensure health of T-38 fleet|date=6 July 2012|publisher=Joint Base San Antonio Public Affairs|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155857/http://www.jbsa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123308869 |archive-date=2 April 2015|access-date=25 May 2017}}</ref>
 
▲The flight tests planes repaired or modified by the 571st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of the [[309th Maintenance Wing]], which performs T-38 overhauls at Randolph and handles depot maintenance of all T-38s in the Air Force, as well as some Navy T-38s. Planes are given functional check flights before delivery to the field. Flights last about an hour and certify the aircraft for flight. The tests are performed before the planes are returned to operational service. The flight also ferries T-38s between their bases and the repair depot.<ref name=RandolphReservists/>
 
==History==
 
===World War II===
 
====Training in the United States====
The [[squadron (aviation)|squadron]] was first activated as the '''25th Reconnaissance Squadron''' at [[MacDill Field]], Florida andas attachedone toof the four original squadrons of the [[98th Bombardment Group]]. Since a reorganization of [[General Headquarters Air Force]] in September 1936, each bombardment group of the [[Army Air Forces]] (AAF) had an assigned or attached reconnaissance squadron, which operated the same aircraft as that group's assigned bombardment squadrons.<ref>Maurer (1987), p. 340</ref> The 24th25th soon moved to [[Barksdale Field]], Louisiana, where it began to train as a [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator]] squadron under [[Third Air Force]]. In April, it was converted to a [[heavy bomber]] unit and redesignated the '''415th Bombardment Squadron''' and was assigned, rather than attached to the [[98th Bombardment Group]].<ref name=415FTFfacts/><ref name=Maurer98BG>Maurer, ''Combat Units'', pp. 169–170</ref>
 
The squadron's training was short and it deployed to Egypt in July 1942<ref name=415FTFfacts/> over the [[South Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command#Operations|South Atlantic Ferrying Route]] transiting from Morrison Field, Florida, though the Caribbean Sea to Brazil. It made the Atlantic crossing from Brazil to Liberia, then transited east across central Africa to Sudan. The air echelon of the group reformed with the ground echelon which traveled by the [[SS Pasteur (1938)|SS ''Pasteur'']] around the [[Cape of Good Hope]], joining with the air echelon of the squadron and the [[345th Bombardment Squadron]] at [[RAF Ramat David]], in [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]].<ref>Rogers, pp. 77–78</ref>
 
====Combat in the Middle East====
[[File:415th Bombardment Squadron - B-24 Liberator.jpg|thumb|415th Bomb Squadron B-24D<ref group=note>{{efn|Aircraft is Consolidated B-24D-45-CO Liberator, serial 42-40322 "''Cornhusker"''. This plane was shot down over the Ionian Sea west of [[Cephalonia]] Island by [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Bf 109]]s from IV/[[JG 27]] flown by Hans Flor while returning from 1 August 1943 low-level mission to PloieștiPloești, Romania. All 10 crew members were KIA. MACRMissing Air Crew Report 178. Photo taken at Tobruk or Benina Airfield, Libya.</ref>}}]]
Upon arrival in the Near East, the squadron became part of United States Army Middle East Air Force, which was replaced by [[United States Air Forces Central Command|Ninth Air Force]] in November. It entered combat in August, attacking shipping and harbor installations to cut [[Axis powers|Axis]] supply lines to North Africa. It also bombed [[airfield]]s and rail transit lines in [[Sicily]] and mainland Italy. The squadron moved forward with Ninth Air Force to airfields in Egypt; Libya and Tunisia supporting the [[British Eighth Army]]{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} in the [[Western Desert Campaign]]. Its support of this campaign earned the squadron the [[Distinguished Unit Citation]].<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
 
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====Return to the United States====
The squadron returned to the United States in May 1945. Upon arrival it was redesignated as a very heavy [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] squadron and began training for deployment to the Pacific to conductjoin the [[strategic bombing during World War II#United States bombing of Japan|strategic bombardmentbombing raidscampaign onagainst Japan]]. However, very heavy bomber groups were organized with three squadrons, rather than the four of the 98th Group, so in July 1945, the squadron was inactivated and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the other squadrons of the 98th Group.<ref name=415FTFfacts/><ref>Dorr, ''B-29 Superfortress Units'' {{page needed|date=May 2017}}</ref>
 
===Strategic Air Command===
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The squadron was reactivated as the '''415th Flight Test Flight''' in 2001 as a [[Northrop T-38 Talon]] functional check flight organization at Randolph Air Force Base.<ref name=415FTFfacts/> The squadron participates in a program designed to extend the service life of the Air Force's fleet of T-38C Talon aircraft through the year 2020. In addition to modifying the propulsion system, the program also involves an upgrade to the plane's avionics. This upgrade is designed to improve the training capabilities of the T-38 and provide one configuration for all training roles. Once completed, the program will make it easier for pilot trainees to transition from the T-38 to a front-line fighter or bomber aircraft.<ref name=LongerLife>{{cite web |url= https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+longer+life%3A+reserve+test+flight+has+big+role+in+T-38+upgrade...-a0111268895 |last1=Patterson|first1=Lt |title=A longer life: reserve test flight has big role in T-38 upgrade program|date=2003|publisher=The Free Library by Farlex|access-date=25 May 2017}}</ref>
 
[[Air Education and Training Command]] is the lead command responsible for sustainment and modernization of T-38s in the Air Force inventory. The T-38 System Program Office at the [[Ogden Air Logistics Center]] at [[Hill Air Force Base]], Utah, provides primary field support for the aircraft and has operational control of the 415th's missionflight, while Air Force Reserve Command maintains administrative control of the unit.<ref name=LongerLife/>
 
==Lineage==
'''415th Bombardment Squadron'''
* Constituted as the '''25th Reconnaissance Squadron''' (Heavy) on 28 January 1942.
: Activated on 3 February 1942
: Redesignated '''415th Bombardment Squadron''' (Heavy) on 22 April 1942
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{{Col-end}}
 
=== Aircraft ===
* Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1942–1945
* Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 1958–1961
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* Northrop T-38 Talon, 2001–present<ref name=RandolphReservists/>
 
===Awards and campaigns===
{{unit awards table
|award_image1=AF PUC
|award_name1=[[Distinguished Unit Citation]]
|award_date1=August 1942-17 August 1943
|award_notes1=North Africa and Sicily, 415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|award_image2=AF PUC
|award_name2=[[Distinguished Unit Citation]]
|award_date2=1 August 1943
|award_notes2=Ploesti, Romania, 415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|award_image3=AF OUA
|award_name3=[[Air Force Outstanding Unit Award]]
|award_date3=1 January 2013–31 December 2014
|award_notes3=415th Flight Test Flight<ref>{{cite web |url= http://access.afpc.af.mil/AwardsDMZNet40/SearchAwards.aspx |last1=|first1=|title=Air Force Personnel Services: Unit Awards|date=|publisher=Air Force Personnel Center|access-date=April 3, 2023}} (search)</ref>
}}
 
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#efefef;"
! Campaign Streamer
! Campaign
! Dates
! Notes
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Air Offensive, Europe||31 July 1942–5 June 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Air Combat, EAME Theater||31 July 1942–11 May 1945||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Egypt-Libya||31 July 1942–12 February 1943||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Tunisia||12 November 1942–13 May 1943||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Sicily||14 May 1943–17 August 1943||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Naples-Foggia||18 August 1943–21 January 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Anzio||22 January 1944–24 May 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Rome-Arno||22 January 1944–9 September 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Central Europe||22 March 1944–21 May 1945||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Normandy||6 June 1944–24 July 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Northern France||25 July 1944–14 September 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Southern France||15 August 1944–14 September 1944||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||North Apennines||10 September 1944–4 April 1945||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Rhineland||15 September 1944–21 March 1945||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|-
|[[Image:Streamer EAMEC.PNG|200px]]||Po Valley||3 April 1945–8 May 1945||415th Bombardment Squadron<ref name=415FTFfacts/>
|}
==See also==
 
{{Portal|World War II}}
* [[List of United States Air Force test squadrons]]
 
==References==
; Notes
{{Notelist}}
{{Reflist|group=note}}
 
; Citations
{{Reflist|40em30em}}
 
===Bibliography===
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* {{cite book|last=Dorr|first=Robert F.|title=B-24 Liberator Units of the Fifteenth Air Force|series=Combat Aircraft|volume=21|year=2000|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location= Botley, UK|isbn=1-84176-081-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Dorr|first=Robert F.|title=B-29 Superfortress Units in World War Two|series=Combat Aircraft|volume=33|year=2002|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location= Botley, UK|isbn=1-84176-285-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Maurer|first=Maurer|title=Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/23/2001330114/-1/-1/0/AFD-100923-007.pdf |access-date=December 17, 2016|year= 1987|publisher=Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-38-2|oclc=15661556|lccn=87012257}}
* {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|orig-year= 1961|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |edition=reprint|year=1983|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-02-1|lccn=61060979}}
* {{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II|orig-year=1969|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/02/2001329899/-1/-1/0/AFD-101202-002.pdf|edition= reprint|year=1982|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-405-12194-6|oclc=72556|lccn=70605402}}
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