The 352d Tactical Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force fighter squadron. Its last assignment was with the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing at Phan Rang Air Base, South Vietnam, where it was inactivated on 31 July 1971. The first predecessor of the squadron was activated in 1943 as the 372d Fighter Squadron, which served as a Lockheed P-38 Lightning Replacement Training Unit until it was disbanded in 1944. The second predecessor of the squadron was the 652d Bombardment Squadron, which conducted weather reconnaissance in the European Theater of Operations. The 352d Fighter-Day Squadron was formed during the Cold War, the squadron was attached to NATO, and stood on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, the squadron fought with distinction. The squadron was inactivated in 1971. History World War II Fighter Replacement Training The 372d Fighter Squadron was activated in early 1943 at March Field, California as one of the three original squadrons of the 360th Fighter Group, but moved on paper to Glendale Airport the same day. It operated as a Lockheed P-38 Lightning Replacement Training Unit (RTU). RTUs were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters. In January 1944 the squadron moved away from its parent group and established a separate RTU at Santa Maria Army Air Field, California. 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, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. This resulted in the 372d, along with other units at Santa Maria, being disbanded in the spring of 1944 and being replaced by the 440th AAF Base Unit (Fighter Replacement Training Unit, Twin Engine). Weather Reconnaissance in the European Theater The second predecessor of the squadron was the 652d Bombardment Squadron, which conducted weather reconnaissance in the European Theater of Operations. The 652d Bombardment Squadron replaced what began as a provisional weather reconnaissance detachment that was formed on 31 August 1943 with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, then transferred to RAF St Eval on 8 September 1943 to conduct meteorological fights over the Atlantic Ocean. On 25 October 1943 this provisional unit was formalized as Detachment A of the Combat Weather Detachment, 1st Combat Crew Replacement Center at RAF Bovingdon. On 23