157th Fighter Squadron
157th Fighter Squadron | |
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Distinguished Unit Citation[1] | |
Insignia | |
157th Fighter Squadron emblem | |
Patch with 157th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron emblem | |
350th Fighter Squadron emblem | |
Tail stripe | South Carolina |
The 157th Fighter Squadron (157 FS) is a unit of the
History
World War II
- see: 353d Fighter Groupfor full World War II history
Activated in late 1942. Trained under
Squadron demobilized in England during the summer of 1945, inactivated in United States as a paper unit, October 1945.
South Carolina Air National Guard
The wartime 350th Fighter Squadron was re-activated and re-designated as the 157th Fighter Squadron, and was allotted to the
The 157th was equipped with
Korean War activation
The 157th Fighter Squadron was federalized due to the
The 117th TRG then began what was then believed to be a short transition training period. The original plan was to deploy the 117th to France and reinforce the United States Air Forces in Europe at a new base in France, Toul-Rosières Air Base. However Toul Air Base was still under construction, and delays in France for several reasons forced the 117th to remain at Lawson AFB for over a year until finally receiving deployment orders in January 1952.
The 117th arrived at Toul Air Base on 27 January 1952. However at the time of the Wing's arrival, Toul AB consisted of a sea of mud, and the new jet runway was breaking up and could not support safe flying. The commander of the 117th deemed it uninhabitable and its flying squadrons of the wing were ordered dispersed to West Germany. The 112th TRS was transferred to
The mission of the 117 TRW was to provide tactical, visual, photographic and electronic reconnaissance by both day and night, as was required by the military forces within the European command. The RF-80s were responsible for the daylight operations; the RB-26s for night photography. In June 1952, the 117th was involved in Exercise 'June Primer'. This exercise took place in an area bordered by a line drawn from Cherbourg to Geneva in the east and in the west by this Swiss, Austrian and Russian occupation zone borders.
The two RF-80 squadrons of the 117th had to complete a number of varying missions, including vertical photography of prospective paratroop air drop zones, oblique photos of the Rhine and Danube river bridges, vertical photography of the airfields of Jever, Fassburg, Celle, Sundorf and Gütersloh and various visual missions on behalf of the seventh army, including artillery adjustment for the 816th field artillery. The 157 TRS had had wire recorders fitted to five of its RF-80s prior to June Primer and these greatly facilitated the latter missions.
By July 1952 the facilities at Wiesbaden AB were becoming very crowded, and it was felt that the B-26's could fly from the primitive conditions at Toul. The 112 TRS returned to Toul, however the jet-engined RF-80s remained in West Germany until a new runway was constructed.
On 9 July 1952 the activated Air National Guard 117 TRW was released from active duty and inactivated in place and its mission was taken over by the newly activated
Air Defense
After returning from West Germany, the squadron was re-formed at Congaree Air Base and the South Carolina Air National Guard assumed an air defense mission. Due to the lack of jet aircraft in the United States (most were being used in the Korean War), the 157th was re-equipped with very long-range
On 5 September 1957, the 157th Fighter-Bomber Squadron was authorized to expand to a group level, and the
In 1960 ADC released all its
Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire Jr., the first commander of the South Carolina ANG and its first general officer died 25 May 1961, when he courageously piloted his malfunctioning F-104 fighter jet away from populated areas near
The 169th FIG was called into active service a second time in November 1961 as the construction of the infamous "Berlin Wall" pushed the world to the brink of war. Within a month after mobilization, 750 personnel and 22 157th FIS F-104 aircraft were in place at Morón Air Base, Spain as the unit took up flying daily air defense patrols as part of the NATO air defense force in Western Europe. With world tension easing, the squadron returned home in August 1962.
Following the
Tactical Air Command
With the phase-down of continental air defenses in the 1970s, the 169th was transferred to
In the early 1980s, the South Carolina congressional delegation in Congress, led by Senators
With the equipment change to the F-16, the 169th was assigned to the air defense mission again under
In December 1990, during the buildup for war during
Post Cold War era
Early in the 1990s with the declared end of the Cold War and the continued decline in military budgets, the Air Force restructured to meet changes in strategic requirements, decreasing personnel, and a smaller infrastructure. The 169th adopted the new USAF "Objective Organization" in early 1992, with the word "tactical" being eliminated from its designation and becoming the 169th Fighter Group. Tactical Air Command was inactivated on 1 June, being replaced by the new Air Combat Command (ACC).
In 1995, the 157th Fighter Squadron became the recipient of brand-new Block 52
The main mission profile of the squadron therefore changed to that of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). The 157th Fighter Squadron continues to fly the SEAD mission today. Also, on 11 October 1995 ACC and the National Guard Board authorized the status of the 169th to be expanded to the Wing level, and the 157th Fighter Squadron became part of the new 169th Operations Group under the new 169th Fighter Wing.
In mid-1996, the Air Force, in response to budget cuts, and changing world situations, began experimenting with Air Expeditionary organizations. The Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) concept was developed that would mix Active-Duty, Reserve and Air National Guard elements into a combined force. Instead of entire permanent units deploying as "Provisional" as in the 1991 Gulf War, Expeditionary units are composed of "aviation packages" from several wings, including active-duty Air Force, the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard, would be married together to carry out the assigned deployment rotation.
In February 1997, the 157th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (157 EFS) was first formed from 169th FW personnel and aircraft and deployed to Doha International Airport, Qatar, to join with other active-duty and national guard squadrons as part of Operation Southern Watch. This mission was initiated mainly to cover for attacks of Iraqi forces on the Iraqi Shi’ite Muslims. This made the 169th the first Air National Guard unit to deploy alongside active-duty Air Force units to comprise an Air Expeditionary Force (AEF).
The 157th EFS was activated again in January 2000 as a component of
Global War on Terrorism
In 2002, aircraft and personnel from the 169th deployed to
In 2003, nearly 400 Airmen from the 169th and all its F-16s were mobilized and deployed to Southwest Asia as part of what became
In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission announced an historic expansion at McEntire. Five more Block 52 F-16s from the active duty USAF would arrive at the base in 2006 and five more the following year. Then, in 2007, active duty Air Force personnel began arriving at McEntire as the base prepared to host and operate the largest Active Association unit in the nation's Combat Air Forces, bringing about 150 active duty personnel on board to work, train and deploy with the 169th.
In May 2010, the 169th became the first Air National Guard unit to support an AEF mission for a full 120 days. While simultaneously deploying Airmen for Operation Enduring Freedom, the wing deployed more than 300 Airmen in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, during which the 169th flew more than 800 combat air patrol missions over Iraq from Balad AB and other locations. The unprecedented deployment also allowed the 169th team to escort the last Army combat forces out of Iraq on the last day of OEF.
Starting in October 2010 the 157th FS began an Air Sovereignty Alert mission at nearby
Most recently, in April 2012, the 157th EFS was formed and deployed with pilots, maintenance specialists and support staffers. They provided air support to ground units from
Although not confirmed it has been discussed that the 157th Fighter Squadron will likely be re-equipped with the Lockheed Martin
Lineage
- Constituted as 350th Fighter Squadron on 29 September 1942
- Activated on 1 October 1942
- Inactivated on 18 October 1945.
- Re-designated: 157th Fighter Squadron, and allotted to South Carolina ANG, on 24 May 1946
- Extended federal recognition on 9 December 1946
- Federalized and ordered to active service on: 10 October 1950
- Re-designated: 157th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 10 October 1951
- Relieved from active duty and returned to South Carolina State Control: 9 July 1952
- Re-designated: 157th Fighter-Bomber Squadron on 10 November 1952
- Re-designated: 157th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 5 September 1957
- Federalized and ordered to active service on: 1 November 1961
- Relieved from active duty and returned to South Carolina State Control: 15 August 1962
- Re-designated: 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 1 April 1975
- Federalized and ordered to active service on: 29 December 1990
- Deployed elements designated: 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron (Provisional), 29 December 1990
- Relieved from active duty and returned to South Carolina State Control: 22 July 1991
- Re-designated: 157th Fighter Squadron on 15 March 1992 – present
- Components designated as: 157th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron when deployed as part of an Air and Space Expeditionary unit after June 1996.
Assignments
- 353d Fighter Group, 1 October 1942 – 18 October 1945
- 54th Fighter Wing, 9 December 1946
- 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 10 October 1950
- 116th Fighter-Interceptor Group, 10 July 1952
- 116th Fighter-Bomber Groupon 1 December 1952
- 116th Fighter Group(Air Defense), 1 July 1955
- 169th Fighter-Interceptor Group, 5 September 1957
- 169th Tactical Fighter Group, 1 April 1975
- Elements attached to: 4th Tactical Fighter Wing (Provisional), 29 December 1990 – 22 July 1991
- 169th Fighter Group, 15 March 1992
- 169th Operations Group, 11 October 1995 – present
Stations
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South Carolina Air National Guard deployments
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Aircraft
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See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. (PDF) from the original on 8 February 2024.
- McMullen, Richard F. (1964) "The Fighter Interceptor Force 1962–1964" ADC Historical Study No. 27, Air Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, CO (Confidential, declassified 22 March 2000)
External links
- 169th Fighter Wing history website
- 169th Fighter [email protected]
- Rogers, B. (2006). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. ISBN 1-85780-197-0
- 157th Fighter [email protected]
- Cornett, Lloyd H. and Johnson, Mildred W., A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson AFB, CO (1980). Archived 13 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Official site of the 169th Fighter Wing