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75 Years HISTORY April 2 & 3, 2016 5
of Airpower
56th Fighter Wing
1941 - 2016
by After World War II, the 56th &RXUWHV\SKRWR Wing at Nakhon Phanom Royal &RXUWHV\SKRWR
RICK GRISET Fighter Group was assigned to Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.
Selfridge Field, Michigan. On Aug. by military jet fighters. That flight It was redesignated as the 56th Fighter Wing conducted combat
WK)LJKWHU:LQJ+LVWRU\2IÀFH 15, 1947, the 56th Fighter Wing was a month after the Soviets set up Special Operations Wing on Aug. aircrew training in F-4s and
was activated with the group as a their blockade of Berlin and put the 1, 1968. The 56th trained Laotian later fighter training in F-16s.
The 56th Fighter Wing, one of subordinate unit. The wing’s mis- Soviets on notice that the United and Thai air force personnel, and In the early 1990s, the U.S. Air
the most highly decorated aviation sion was air defense.The unit wrote States was capable of deploying a supported and conducted com- Force downsized which removed
units in history, traces its heritage another chapter in aviation history large package of modern military bat operations against opposing fighter aircraft from MacDill. The
to the 56th Pursuit Group, which when on July 14, 1948, its F-80 aircraft across the Atlantic in mini- armed enemy forces. It played a redesignated 56th Fighter Wing
first activated on Jan. 15, 1941, Shooting Stars made the first-ever mum time. The wing inactivated major part in trying to win the remained in the active fighter
at Savannah Air Base, Georgia. west-to-east crossing of the Atlantic Jan. 1, 1964. hearts and minds of the popula- force and was reassigned to Luke
Redesignated a fighter group, the tion with its Civic Action Section. AFB on April 1, 1994, flying F-16s
unit was equipped with the P-47 The wing reactivated March 16, It took part in search and rescue, and the F-15E Strike Eagle. A
Thunderbolt and then reassigned 1967, as the 56th Air Commando and suppression of enemy defens- year later the F-15E training mis-
to England. On April 13, 1943, the es missions. As such, it took part in sion moved to Seymour Johnson
56th flew its first combat mission the battles for Khe San and Lima AFB, North Carolina. The wing
of World War II. During its two- Site 85, as well as the rescue raid received its first F-35 Lightning
year involvement in the air war on Son Tay prisoner-of-war camp, II on March 10, 2014.
in Europe, the group shot down and the attempt to rescue the crew
667 enemy aircraft, more than of the United States merchant Today, the 56th Fighter Wing,
any other group in the theater. container ship SS Mayaguez. a unit which historically has
It damaged or destroyed a total trained some of the world’s great-
of 1,598.5 enemy aircraft. In the Redesignated on June 30, est fighter pilots, has evolved to
process, the 56th lost only 25 pilots 1975, and reassigned to MacDill the mission that Luke AFB has
in aerial combat while producing AFB, Florida, the 56th Tactical been identified with since 1941:
40 fighter aces. “Train the world’s greatest F-35
and F-16 fighter pilots.”
