The squadron was first active during World War II as a training unit. It was disbanded in 1944 when the Army Air Forces reorganized its training and support units in the United States.
The squadron was first activated at Hamilton Field, California in July 1942 as the 327th Fighter Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 328th Fighter Group.[1][2] The squadron initially participated in air defense of the Pacific coast from Hamilton and later from Mills Field. It also served as an Operational Training Unit (OTU).[1] The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to "satellite groups".[3] On 1 March 1943, the squadron mission changed to operating a Bell P-39 Airacobra Replacement Training Unit (RTU). Replacement Training Units were also oversized units, but they trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters.[1][3]
In February 1944, the 327th moved to Marysville Army Air Field, where it continued as a P-39 RTU.[1] However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit, while the groups and squadrons acting as RTUs were disbanded or inactivated.[4][5] This resulted in the 327th, along with other units at Marysville, being disbanded in the spring of 1944[1] and being replaced by the 433d AAF Base Unit (Fighter Replacement Training Unit, Single Engine), which assumed the squadron's mission, personnel, and equipment.[6]
In April 1956, the 327th was the first ADC squadron to fly the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger in operational service, and became the first supersonic unit in Air Defense Command. These aircraft were also equipped with data link, which enabled them to interface directly with the Semi Automatic Ground Environment computers in ground direction centers, removing the need for voice communications by air to ground radios.[7]
^The squadron apparently never received approval for this variation of its World War II emblem. See Maurer, Combat Squadrons, pp. 403–404 (1942 emblem is approved emblem)
^Approved 14 October 1942. Description: Over and through a white disc, a medieval iron mask red, riveted white, with stylized wings yellow, shaded orange.
^Aircraft is Convair F-102A-30-CO Delta Dagger, serial 54-1396. Note the short vertical stabilizer of early model F-102s. This aircraft crashed on 14 March 1960 near Itazuke AB, Japan. Dirkx, Marco (6 May 2024). "1954 USAF Serial Numbers". Joe Baugher’s Serial Number List. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
Buss, Lydus H.(ed), Sturm, Thomas A., Volan, Denys, and McMullen, Richard F., History of Continental Air Defense Command and Air Defense Command July to December 1955, Directorate of Historical Services, Air Defense Command, Ent AFB, CO, (1956)
Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN48003657.
Goss, William A (1955). "The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L (eds.). The Army Air Forces in World War II. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. LCCN48003657. OCLC704158.
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