After reporter Andreas Parsch filed a Freedom of Information Act request, the Air Force told him the unit "support[s] training requirements ... for infiltration and exfiltration.

According to news reports, it may provide Short Takeoff and Landing and tactically qualified crews to support training requirements for the US Army Special Operations Forces (SOF) community.

If this is factual, then 427th aircrews must be proficient in smaller types of aircraft in order to familiarize US Army personnel with their characteristics, peculiarities, and capabilities.

[3] The Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (A) uses rotary wing platforms (Sikorsky MH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing MH-47, MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird/AH-6).

With their training as a unit completed, personnel of the 427th packed their bags and left California's sunny San Joaquin Valley in mid-July 1944.

Once the squadron's planes were assembled and checked out, the unit flew east to Cairo, Egypt, where they expected orders for Poltava Airfield, Ukraine on the Soviet Eastern Front.

However, a Luftwaffe night attack on the Soviet Air Force bases where the bombers landed in Ukraine on 21 June 1944 created mass havoc and destroyed many aircraft on the ground.

The Soviets refused to allow American night fighters to defend the bomber bases, insisting that air defense was their responsibility, the 427th's orders to Poltava were scrubbed.

Their stay was short, as on 20 September the 427th was given orders to relocate to the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations and join the Tenth Air Force in India.

On the other mission in which contact was made, the attack was cut short when the Naples antiaircraft defenses tried to help and nearly shot down the 427th's Northrop P-61 Black Widow.

With the war over, the air echelon was ordered to fly to Yangkai Airfield, China, to turn in their aircraft for 'pickling' (preparation for storage) and start processing home.

The squadron's mission was to provide transition training to Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots for the Cessna OA-37B Dragonfly counterinsurgency aircraft to combat guerrilla type activity.

The standard A-37 aircraft was fitted with a refueling probe in the nose; reticulated foam was added to the self-sealing fuel tanks to protect against fire or explosions if hit by incendiary anti-aircraft rounds.

The cockpit was armor-plated, and the undercarriage was strengthened to carry greater weight and to enable the aircraft to operate off rough remote airstrips.