The squadron was later activated in the Cold War as a McDonnell F-4 Phantom II Replacement Training Unit (RTU) at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.

[5] Assigned to Thirteenth Air Force, arriving at Hollandia Airfield in the Netherlands East Indies part of New Guinea in December 1944.

The squadron deployed to forward bases at Middleburg Airfield and Wama Airfield, but during 1945 aerial targets became increasingly rare, and the squadron turned to long range night-time intruding, carrying out the same mission as the aircraft they had originally been stalking, the P-61's long range enabled attacks on Japanese targets as far as the Philippines.

[5] The unit moved to newly established bases in the Philippines in March, and the 550th began flying a number of direct infantry support missions, helping with the battle on Negros.

The wing received its first TF-15A Eagle in November 1974, however problems with the reliability of the plane's Pratt & Whitney F100 engines led to the 550th not being equipped with the aircraft until 1977.

Once qualified the crews were then relocated to an operational squadron at the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.

[8] In late 1994 the F-15Es from the 550th started leaving Luke, and being reassigned to the newly formed 333d Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson.

[1] The TFI was initiated after the Chief of Staff of the Air Force directed increased production of F-15C pilots.

To achieve this goal the Air Force recognized the need for additional aircraft and manpower at the 173rd Fighter Wing, the sole Boeing F-15C Eagle training base for the USAF.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency