99th Fighter Squadron

99th Fighter Squadron. Harry t. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park. , The 99th Flying Training Squadron flies Raytheon T-1 Jayhawks and they painted the tops of the tails of their aircraft red, in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen the “Red Tails”. The 99th Flying Training Squadron is part of the 12th Flying Training Wing based at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. It operates T-1 Jayhawk aircraft conducting flight training. The squadron was formed during World War II as the first flying unit for African Americans known as the Tuskegee Airmen the unit served with distinction in the European Theater of Operations. Following the war it served as a flight training unit for four years in the 1940s until its deactivation. The 99th supported Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy and provided close air support to the U.S. 5th Army during its assaults on Foggia and Anzio and for French and Polish armies in their attack on Monastery Hill near Monte Cassino. , , On January 27 and 28, 1944, Luftwaffe Fw 190 fighter-bombers raided Anzio, where the Allies had conducted amphibious landings on January 22. Attached to the 79th Fighter Group, eleven of the 99th Fighter Squadron’s pilots shot down enemy fighters, including Captain Charles B. Hall, who claimed two shot down, bringing his aerial victory total to three. The eight fighter squadrons defending Anzio together claimed 32 German aircraft shot down, while the 99th claimed the highest score among them with 13. , , The squadron earned its second Distinguished Unit Citation on May 12-14, 1944, while attached to the 324th Fighter Group, attacking German positions on Monastery Hill, attacking infantry massing on the hill for a counterattack, and bombing a nearby strong point to force the surrender of the German garrison to Moroccan Goumiers. In mid-1944 the squadron was assigned to conduct bomber escort missions. Following the war the squadron returned to the United States where it flew training missions under the command of Marion Rodgers until its inactivation in 1949. It was reactivated in 1988 as a flying training unit. With the closure of Williams Air F9rce Base, Arizona, the squadron moved to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Today it operates Raytheon T-1 Jayhawk aircraft preparing pilots to operate air refueling, airlift, and bomber aircraft.