| abstract | - The 57th Pursuit Squadron was established on 1 January 1941 at Hamilton Field, California. Along with the 42nd and 56th squadrons it was a part of the 54th Pursuit Group. It was formed with a cadre from the 35th Pursuit Group. The squadron operated both Bell P-39 Aircobras and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks alongside each other which was rather unusual, and in June 1942 it was sent to Alaska. It was first based at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage and according to the official records, it would seem that it did not in itself take any part in the action against the Japanese in the Aleutians, but a detachment of eleven of the pilots saw service with the 42d which was based at Kodiak NAS, Adak and between them got three confirmed victories and two probables. On 4 August 1942, the 57th was moved to Kodiak NAS, Adak and there replaced the 42d. All its pilots were rotated to Adak to gain combat experience. The assignment of the 57th to Alaska came to end on 26 November 1942 and the P-39s were to be flown to Duncan Army Airfield, San Antonio, Texas for depot-level overhaul. With the squadron back at Harding Army Airfield, Baton Rouge, it was reequipped with the North American P-51A Mustang, thereby becoming the first P-51 unit in the AAF. On 12 May 1943 the 54th Group with the 57th and 56th squadrons was transferred to Bartow Army Airfield, Florida. There it became a replacement training group, training P-51 pilots for overseas duty. It reequipped with P-51Bs at Bartow. The 57th squadron was disbanded on 30 April 1944, being replaced by an Army Air Force Base Unit as part of a re-orgazation of training units. The unit was reactivated under Strategic Air Command on 24 March 1947 as an Air Force Reserve fighter-escort squadron under the reserve 459th Bombardment Group at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona. It is unclear whether or nor the unit was manned or equipped as the 459th was located at Long Beach Army Air Field, California with B-29 Superfortresses. It was inactivated in June 1959 due to budget reductions.
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