559th FTS T-37 Tweet Model Fly with the 559th FTS in this hand-crafted T-37 Tweet Model. Each piece is carved from wood and hand-painted to provide a piece you'll love. Length - 13 inches Wingspan - 15 inches Made from Mahogany US Veteran-Owned Business The 559th was initially constituted as the 81st Bombardment Squadron, Light on 20 November 1940, assigned to the 12th Bombardment Group, Light. The squadron was activated at McChord Field, Washington. The squadron's original manning came from the 34th Bombardment Squadron consisting of 27 enlisted men and 1 officer, Major John J. O'Hara, who assumed command. Over the ensuing six months the squadron's ranks swelled to 190 enlisted men and 15 officers. The 81st used one Douglas B-18 Bolo, one Douglas B-23 Dragon, and two PT-17 Kaydets, to conduct flight training while some of its rated personnel attended various Air Corps technical schools or on detached service with the Ferrying Command. The squadron was equipped with the North American B-25 Mitchell in January 1942 and redesignated a medium bombardment squadron. Shortly thereafter the 12th Bombardment Group was transferred to Esler Field, Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. Soon after arriving the squadron initiated a training program which included all phases of combat flying, bombing, and gunnery. Bombing practice was conducted on the range in the Kisatchie National Forest, while gunnery training was accomplished in Army Air Forces schools at Panama City, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada. The squadron also participated in general field operations training near DeRidder, Louisiana. In late the 81st served as part of a detachment force of 40 aircraft and 450 officers and men that was sent to Stockton, California, for over-water training. In June 1942 the squadron began its movement overseas. The air echelon staged at Morrison Field, Florida. On 14 July it flew to Accra, British West Africa then on to Khartoum in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and Cairo, Egypt. By mid-August the air echelon was in place at Deversoir, Egypt. The ground echelon had left Esler Field by train on 3 July for Fort Dix, New Jersey, where it boarded the SS Louis Pasteur and sailed from New York on 16 July, arriving at Freetown, Sierra Leone, eight days later. The personnel then sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, via Durban, South Africa, and arrived at Port Tewfik, Egypt, on 16 August. Two days later the ground echelon arrived at Deversoir. Unpon its arrival the 81st underwent a training period with light bomber wings of the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force. This training included five missions intended to acquaint the American aircrews with aids to navigation in the Middle East. The first mission was flown on the night of 16 August 1942 and consisted of a bombing attack on the harbor at Mersa Matruh. The raid was followed by attacks on Axis airdromes at Doba and Fuka, and on docks at Tobruk, Libya.[2]
