History
The United States Army constituted the 32d Pursuit Group in late 1940. Shortly afterwards, on 1 January 1941, the Air Corps activated the group at Rio Hato Army Air Base, Panama. For the most part, however, the group consisted only of cadres provided by other units in the Canal Zone. Although headquarters were at Rio Hato, as a tactical organization it was located at Albrook Field, where all pursuit organizations in the Panama Canal Zone were concentrated, and its squadrons had only an average of 4 to 6 officers assigned. The group and its three assigned flying squadrons, the 51st, 52d, and 53d Pursuit Squadrons, had the mission of protecting the Panama Canal using obsolete Boeing P-26 Peashooters. On 9 December 1941, just after Pearl Harbor, the newly redesignated Caribbean Air Force moved the unit to France Field in the Canal Zone. The Air Corps equipped the 32d Pursuit Group with Curtiss P-36 Hawks to strengthen the defenses of the region.
On 15 May 1942, the US Army Air Forces redesignated the unit as the 32d Fighter Group (32 FG) and provided it Lockheed P-38 Lightnings. However, the group swapped these fighters for Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. From 1941 to 1943 the group trained in flying intercept and fighter sweeps over the area surrounding the Canal Zone. However, as the perceived threat to the Canal Zone diminished, the US Army Air Force disbanded the 32d Fighter Group at France Field on 1 November 1943.
Read more about this topic: 32d Air Operations Group
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