The 65th Aggressor Squadron

 

Formed in 1941 as a pursuit squadron at Mitchel Field, New York. The 65th provided air defense of the northeast after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.​

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The Squadron took part in the African and European theaters during the Second World War and  flew its last combat mission on 2 May 1945. The 65th Remained in northern Italy after the end of the European War. It was reassigned to the United States in August 1945.

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Reactivated in August 1946 as part of Eleventh Air Force (later Alaskan Air Command) as part of the air defense forces in the northwest Pacific.

In October 1969, the 65th Fighter Weapons Squadron took over tall aircraft, personnel, and facilities of the 4536th Fighter Weapons Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base only to become non-operational early in 1970.

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The squadron was re-equipped in October 1975 with F-5E Tiger IIs it was used throughout the US and overseas to teach adversarial tactics since the F-5E had approximately the size and performance characteristics of a Soviet MiG-21 and so the 65th Aggressor Squadron was born.

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In September 2005, the squadron was flying F-15Cs and

F-15Ds painted in camouflage schemes identical to those observed on Russian-manufactured Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighters and operated in conjunction with the 64th Aggressor Squadron, which performs a similar task using 

F-16 Fighting Falcons.

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