561st Fighter Squadron Patch - Plastic BackingPilots and Crew! Enjoy this beautifully embroidered 561st Fighter Squadron Patch. You'll love the quality and be able to display or wear it proudly.4 inchesEmbroidered/Sew onUS Veteran-Owned BusinessThe 561st Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force squadron, being last assigned to the 57th Operations Group at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. It was inactivated on 1 October 1996.The 561st FS was the last United States Air Force unit to fly the F-4 Phantom II on operational missions. The last F-105 shot down in the Vietnam War was from the 561st.HistoryWorld War IIActivated in 1942 as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber squadron. Trained under II Bomber Command in Idaho, Utah and in Iowa.Deployed to Eighth Air Force in England, June 1943 at RAF Knettishall (AAF-136), England. Entered combat in June 1943 by attacking an aircraft factory in Amsterdam. The squadron functioned primarily as a strategic bombardment Organization in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) until the war ended. Targets included industries, naval installations, oil storage plants, refineries, and communications centers in Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, Norway, Romania, and the Netherlands. The squadron attacked many significant enemy targets, including aircraft factories in Kassel, Reims, and Brunswick; airfields in Bordeaux, Paris, and Berlin; naval works at La Pallice, Emden, and Kiel; chemical industries in Ludwigshafen; ball-bearing plants in Schweinfurt; and marshalling yards in Brussels, Osnabrück, and Bielefeld. Operations also included support and interdictory missions. Helped prepare for the invasion of Normandy by attacking military installations in France, and on D-Day struck coastal guns, field batteries, and transportation. Continued to support ground forces during the campaign that followed, hitting such objectives as supply depots and troop concentrations.