479th Flying Training Group

Provides current information on the 479th Flying Training Group, NAS Pensacola. The app provides updates from Public Affairs, Directory/Map, events, resources and more.

The 479th Flying Training Group traces its lineage to World War II. In September 1943, personnel officers began selecting key personnel from the 329th Fighter Group to form a new a new fighter group. These individuals were sent to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at Orlando, Florida, to learn the latest’s information and methods of operation for fighter groups in combat. This new group, the 479th Fighter Group activated on 15 October 1943, with the mission of providing high-altitude, long-range escort for Eighth Air Force bombers.

Lt Col Kyle Riddle, commander of the 328th Fighter Group at Hamilton Field, assumed command of the Group which would become known as the “Riddle’s Raiders.” Only 11 days after arriving at RAF Wattisham, the 479th Fighter Group participated in its first combat mission. Col Riddle was shot down and was replaced by Col Hubert Zemke. Beginning in August 1944, the Group began trading in its P-38 aircraft for the better performing North American P-51 Mustang’s.
During the Group’s 11 months of combat flying, it participated in 351 missions and was credited with 155 enemy aircraft destroyed and 38 damaged in aerial victories, along with 442 aircraft destroyed and another 167 damaged on the ground.

On Thanksgiving Day 1945, the Group boarded USS Enterprise for the return trip to the United States, where the 479th inactivated on 1 December 1945 at Camp Kilmer.