August 27, 2010 (by A1C Melanie Holochwost) - After 69 years in existence, the 61st Fighter Squadron will stand down in a ceremony at 4 p.m. in Hangar 413.
The stand down is bittersweet, said Lt. Col. Philippe Malebranche, 61st FS commander.

"The 61st is a fantastic squadron and I'm sad to see it close," he said. "We are trying to look beyond the closing and hoping that in a few years we will reactivate and continue the same Top Dog traditions as one of the newest F-35 squadrons."

Following the ceremony, the Top Dogs will lower their flag at 5:36:10 p.m. while four former squadron members perform a four-ship flyby.

A beach-themed party will follow at 6 p.m. with food, drinks and live music. Fifty tons of sand, palm trees and more will be brought in to complete the theme. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $10 or at the door for $15.

Colonel Malebranche said the Air Force chooses to stand up or stand down squadrons based on the number of heritage points they have earned.

"Unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do to increase heritage points, because we are a training squadron," he said. "We haven't earned any points since World War II when Col. Gabby Gabreski and Lt. Col. Robert Johnson made a name for us in the P-47."

Out of the 39 aces in Luke history, Colonel Gabreski and Colonel Johnson are the top two with 28 and 27 victories respectively.

Colonel Malebranche said the WWII success led to the motto, "I'm a Top Dog, bring it on!" and the viper hand signal. Before a flight, pilots wipe the blood from their mouth and show a number one.

August 27, 2010 (by Jenn Rowell) - Woman to become Alabama Air National Guard's first female fighter pilot. Sara Ferrero is flying al­most every day and is nearing her destination -- becoming the Alabama Air National Guard's first female fighter pilot.
Taking to the skies is some­thing she always wanted to do, but it wasn't until she was 20 and attending the University of Central Florida in Orlando that she realized she really could.

Now she's about halfway through her undergraduate pi­lot training at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. She'll be 28 at the end of the month. She's got two more training courses to complete after that.

Next fall, she'll be back in Ala­bama flying one of the F-16 Fighting Falcons with the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 187th Fighter Wing at Dannelly Field.

"It's been something that I'd always wanted to do but just never really thought I could do it until I met somebody very en­couraging," she said by phone from Columbus.

Once she got her private pi­lot's license, she heard about the Air National Guard and decided to go that route instead of ROTC or the Air Force Academy.

She was commissioned through the Academy of Mili­tary Science, which commis­sions Air National Guard offi­cers. Ferrero attended the school at its former location in Tennessee, before it moved to Maxwell Air Force Base last fall.

Now she's in her basic pilot training with about 30 others. They typically start their day at 5 or 6 a.m. and go for 10 to 12 hours, Ferrero said.

"They constantly have you bouncing around from activity to activity. They keep it so that you have to be on your toes and be ready for everything," she said. "They'll schedule you for things and you only have 15 minutes to be ready. The night before you need to be prepared for anything that's coming at you."

She said that her approach to the training is to take things one step at a time.

"You want those wings, but you put that in the back­ground," Ferrero said. "You don't think about what's off in the future. You think about doing the best today and tomor­row will take of itself tomor­row."

Her path is set

Her fellow students are most­ly active duty airmen and they'll be competing amongst each oth­er for the type of airplane they want.

For the Guard, the process is different.

Ferrero was hired by the 187th to fly the F-16. So her train­ing track is already set.

"It's like I'm an asset of the Guard and they sent me to train­ing. It's not a guessing game for me," she said. "All the guys are all competing with each other, and they don't know how this process is going to end. It de­pends on what the Air Force has available and how they did in re­lation to each other."

She picked the F-16 because it only has room for one person -- the pilot -- and it requires all around excellence from that pi­lot.

The aircraft can be used as a fighter, as a bomber, for close air support and for other mis­sions, she said. It's also an air­craft that is constantly being up­dated with new technologies.

"You're never really going to settle into a complacency or a comfort zone. You're always going to be learning new things," she said.

Plus, it just looks good.

"It's the sexiest jet, I think, on the flight line," she said.

Despite their chosen, or as­signed, aircraft, Ferrero said all of the pilots in her class are tops.

"Everybody is somebody. You learn to realize you're not the smartest person anymore," she said. "Everybody next to you is really above average."

The pilots in training may not spend all their free time to­gether or become best friends, but there's a certain level of bonding, Ferrero said.

"People there get close, going through the process, the chal­lenges and the hurdles and the struggles together," she said. "We're going through a very de­manding, but extremely reward­ing, year together. You definite­ly build a respect and trust for one another."

The aviation community is like a club and when pilots run into each other they always have stories to swap, regardless of the type of aircraft they fly, or if they've even met before. Some of that comes from the training experience and some of it comes from the numbers.

Breaking new ground

The Air Force has 13,706 pi­lots, 4,091 navigators, 1,377 air battle managers and 29,903 non-rated line officers in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below, according to the Air Force Per­sonnel Center. That's the flying community in an Air Force of the total 331,486 airmen on ac­tive duty.

Women pilots make up 19.4 percent of that total. But as of March, only 4.4 percent of those women (643 of the 13,706) were pilots. Only 6.3 percent of the women (283 of the 4,091) were navigators.

Women have only been al­lowed into aircraft that are en­gaged in combat missions since a law keeping them out was re­pealed in 1991. Women first en­tered pilot training in 1976, nav­igator training in 1977 and fighter pilot training in 1993, ac­cording to the AFPC. In fact, they were only first allowed into the military in 1920, and that stipulated that it had to be only in times of war.

In 1948, the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 allowed women permanent sta­tus in the military. But the law capped the number at 2 percent of enlisted corps and the num­ber of women who could be com­missioned as officers or hold the ranks of warrant officer was capped at 10 percent of the num­ber of enlisted women.

That same year, Executive Order 9981 ended racial segrega­tion in the armed services. After the draft ended in 1973, the Department of Defense be­gan studying the role of women in the military, but still limited that role, according to a paper by Lt. Kristal Alfonso, which was published by the Air Uni­versity at Maxwell in 2009.

Alfonso wrote that at end of the draft, women still repre­sented about 2 percent of the military. By 1996, that figure was up to 13.1 percent. In 2007, that was 15.9 percent of officers and 14.4 percent of the enlisted corps.

Currently, there are 34,318 fe­male offices in the military, or 16.2 percent. There are 166,814 enlisted members, or 14.1 per­cent. The total number of wom­en in uniform is 202,718 or 14.3 percent, according to DoD fig­ures.

Flying, not gender, is focus

But Ferrero doesn't focus on being the first female fighter pi­lot for the 100th Fighter Squad­ron.

"They really didn't make an issue about it. It's just the na­ture of the job. They're hiring somebody based on the job that they think you can do," she said.

And that's exactly what the people who hired her had in mind.

Col. Scott Patten was com­mander of the 100th when Ferre­ro was hired. Now he's the vice commander of the 187th Fighter Wing.

He said fighter pilots that are hired go through a pilots board process and that there is a board every year or so.

The way it works, Patten said, is aspiring pilots put to­gether a package that includes college transcripts, the Air Force Qualifying Test scores, and several other required docu­ments and recruiters first go through those packages and screen them for the applicants that meet the requirements. About half of the 30 pilots in the squadron go through this pro­cess. The others come from pri­or military service or other units and that's a different pro­cess, Patten said.

They've received as many as 75 packages for just one or two pilot slots before, he said.

The unit narrows it down to the top 10 for interviews, based strictly on scores.

When they get to the unit, they come for a two-day process. The first day includes a visit to the doctor to make sure there aren't any medical issues that would hinder their flying abili­ties and they do a physical fit­ness test, which is similar to the Air Force's PT test. Those scores are added before the in­terview, which is usually 30 minutes to an hour so the five members of the hiring board can get to know the applicant and de­termine if he or she would be a good fit for the unit, Patten said.

"It's a very competitive board and at the end, we decide out of that who the top choices are to sent to pilot training," he said. "In this case, Sara was the top candidate. The fact that she's a female really had noth­ing to do with it."

But it will be a milestone for the fighter squadron that in 2007 changed its designation to hon­or the famed red-tailed Tuske­gee Airmen that fought in World War II. One of those combat units was the 100th Fighter Squadron.

Milestone aside, a fighter pi­lot is a fighter pilot.

"She's coming here as a pilot. She's going to be just like us," Patten said. "The fact that she's a female, it's not a big deal."

Ferrero said she looked at several F-16 units and wanted to join the 187th because of the peo­ple there.

She's from Florida and doesn't know yet if she'd be a full-time pilot here or on tradi­tional Guard status.
But the 187th has a high oper­ations tempo and she's likely be deployed in the near future if that keeps up.

"Deploying, that's the whole reason we're training to do this job. You're going to go out and fly with this group of individu­als and accomplish a certain mission with these planes," she said. "I haven't done it yet, but it's something that I look for­ward to doing. It's a really elite team of individuals that goes out to fly in combat and that's some­thing that I really want to be a part of."

The training is challenging Ferrero and changing her. Long hours, attention to detail and the constant stress transforms the future military pilots.

"Even if you're tired and worn out and you're ready for the day to be done you have to muster up your fortitude and just keep pressing because there's still a few more things for you to do and you're always being graded. Instructors have always got their eye on you and you have to be on your game and you just get used to it," Ferrero said.

"I used to be somebody that was always sliding into class a few minutes late and now I'm not late for anything. It's some­thing that you don't realize how much you've changed until you go home for a week or two and you realize you're just not the same person anymore."

August 27, 2010 (by SMSgt. Larry Schneck) - The fleet of gray F-16 Fighting Falcons on the Luke Air Force Base flightline is in sharp contrast to a small group of blue-colored training aircraft that arrived earlier this month.
The 309th Aircraft Maintenance Unit has added five F-16s from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., to its inventory of 27 aircraft.

"Right now they look like blueberries with the painting scheme of an aggressor aircraft," said 1st Lt. Jennifer Rogers, 309th AMU officer-in-charge. "The blue camouflaged pattern helps pilots in training quickly identify the plane as an adversary, or aggressor, in the air."

The jets transferred to Arizona as part of an ongoing realignment of aircraft Air Force-wide and are the same F-16 model currently in the 56th Fighter Wing inventory.

Master Sgt. Brian Litman, 310th AMU lead production superintendent, led the transfer team that took two weeks to receive the aircraft from Nellis. Sergeant Litman and team completed a flawless transition, according to Lieutenant Rogers.

The five Nellis aircraft integrated into the 309th AMU fleet. The 309th will transfer two of its jets to the 308th AMU and two to the 310th AMU to even out the number of aircraft owned by the three AMUs in the 756th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

"What we're doing right now is putting our tailflashes on them," Lieutenant Rogers said. "Since they're flown by Luke, we're required to change the tailflash to the LF for Luke Field."

Three or four sheet metal Airmen from the 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron Fabrication Flight take three days to complete the job.

"They want to fly the aircraft immediately, so we're just replacing the letters for the base, so they can fly as-is," said 2nd Lt. Holly Gramkow, 56th EMS Fabrication Flight commander. "Starting Monday they'll fully repaint the five aircraft with the gray Luke scheme."

The repainting from the blue camouflage to gray is a five-day process.

Airmen and Defense Department civilians in the corrosion control facility, called the paint barn, start with masking and sanding, and continue with priming each jet. That's followed with applying a top coat of dark and light gray paint, then finish with the application of stenciled NATO markings and decals to fully identify the aircraft.

Repainting costs $10,640 per jet, including labor expenses.

However, to get the Nellis F-16s into the air as soon as possible the corrosion control Airmen had to be creative.

"We don't have the blue paint they use at Nellis, so they blended the gray into the existing blue paint to keep the integrity of the painting scheme," Lieutenant Gramkow said.

Lieutenant Rogers anticipates repainting of the F-16s to be completed by the end of October.

August 26, 2010 (by Jason) - Two Greek F-16s have collided in mid-air off the South Western coast of Crete, near the island of Chryssi on Thursday. One pilot was killed.
The F-16s involved were a single-seater F-16C (#522) and one F-16D block 52 double-seater (#604) from 340 Mira had been part of a formation of six planes on a training mission when they collided.

The crew of the double-seater Captain Iosif Anastasakis, 35, and Lieutenant Paulos Botzakis, 25 managed to eject and were recovered by a local fishing boat. Captain Anastasakis was seriously injured.

Unfortunately, the body of the third pilot Captain Anastasios Balatsoukas, 33, was recovered from the sea more than two hours after the crash.

Eyewitness on the island of Chryssi reported a huge flash in the sky, the pilots rocketing from there airplanes and the jets falling into the sea. According to local new agencies the jets were partaking in dog fighting exercises when the accident occurred.

August 26, 2010 (by SSgt. Russ Martin) - The United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, commonly known as the 'Thunderbirds,' publicly announced the incoming public affairs officer selection today for the 2011 Thunderbird demonstration season.
Maj Kristin Haley, a public affairs officer with the Colorado Air National Guard's 140th Wing, Buckley AFB, CO, will become Thunderbird 12. She will assume responsibilities for the team's media relations, community relations and public relations programs.

"Each year we have many amazing individuals apply to represent our fellow Airmen serving around the world," said Lt. Col. Case Cunningham, Squadron Commander/Leader and Thunderbird No. 1. "It is my honor to welcome Maj. Haley to the 2011 team. She brings an abundance of experience and a truly remarkable record of accomplishment to our organization."

Each person and position is carefully selected based on the individual's record of performance, capabilities in their particular field and a demonstrated commitment to excellence that matches the Airmen the Thunderbird Team represents every day.

The Thunderbirds are currently touring in their 57th year as the Air Force's premier jet demonstration team. The 130-person squadron represents the nearly 700,000 Active Duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Civil Service Airmen serving at home and abroad. The Thunderbirds deliver the Air Force story at air shows around the country and the world each weekend from March through November.

August 25, 2010 (by Samuel King Jr.) - An F-16 Fighting Falcon was blown apart on the range, near Eglin on August 19th.
The explosion wasn't due to a crash or accident, but intentionally initiated to test an aerial-target flight termination system. The test was conducted by the 780th Test Squadron and overseen by the QF-16 special program office.

The purpose was to demonstrate that the FTS design will be sufficient to immediately terminate the flight of a QF-16, as well as determine a range safety debris footprint, according to Kevin Diggs, QF-16 test and evaluation lead.

The QF-16 is a supersonic reusable full-scale aerial target drone modified from an F-16. The QF-16 will provide a 4th generation full-scale aerial target for air-to-air and surface-to-air weapons system evaluation, conducted by the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group at Tyndall AFB, Fla. At this time, the WEG uses QF-4s to conduct their full-scale aerial target missions. Each drone contains a FTS needed to satisfy range safety requirements for use in unmanned missions. The test was a milestone in the development to prepare the F-16 for its new QF-16 mission.

"We're taking these non-operational aircraft and reusing them, recycling if you will," said Mr. Diggs. "We find a better purpose for them in making them flight worthy, which gives our weapons designers the opportunity to test our advanced weapons against a modern aircraft. Additionally, our warfighters get an opportunity to train against a quality fourth generation fighter."

The non-operational F-16 from the 40th Flight Test Squadron, tail-numbered #78-0097, gave its life for the test.

At approximately 11:15 a.m., with a captive audience looking on, the range officials exploded the aircraft.

A small ball of flame burst from the middle of the aircraft, followed by thick black smoke, but no sound. The sound caught up soon after with a deep reverberating boom.

No one could see the extent of the damage at first due to the amount of smoke billowing from the wreck, but once it cleared, it revealed the F-16 had been split in half between the cockpit and the wings.

"It's sad to see an F-16 destroyed like this," said Maj. Wayne Chitmon, 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, the squadron that will eventually own and operate the QF-16s. "At the same time, however, it's exciting to know the fourth generation ability of the F-16 will enhance the warfighters' capabilities."

After the range was cleared, the test team began inspecting the wreckage and collecting data. In the coming weeks, test reports will explain the outcome and success of the test.
The next step for the program office is to evaluate those reports from the 780th and Boeing (the QF-16's prime contractor.) The project will then move forward to certifying the QF-16 with Air Armament Center range safety for unmanned flights in the future.

"This test was one step toward satisfying range safety requirements," said Mr. Diggs.

The first production QF-16 is scheduled to be delivered in 2014. The QF-16 will replace the QF-4, the third generation full-scale aerial target.

August 18, 2010 (by SrA Mac Coleman-Foster) - In the fast-paced world of supersonic jet fighters, 4,000 hours is a very, very long time.
But for Lt. Col. Douglas Schaare, assigned to the 55th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Joint Base Balad, Iraq, logging his 4,000th flight hour in the F-16 Fighting Falcon over Iraq was a joy.

"I love the Viper. Love every minute I get to fly it," said Colonel Schaare. "The jet just keeps getting better, more capable with each upgrade."

Colonel Schaare reached his 4,000th hour while flying a close-air support sortie in support of ground forces, Aug. 1, 2010, while assigned to the 55 EFS, 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group.

"Lt. Col. Schaare's milestone achievement of 4,000 Viper hours shows his commitment to the fighter community. He still enjoys it more than anyone else, which motivates the rest of the squadron to follow his example." said Capt. Eric Gorney, 332nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron operations officer and fellow 55 EFS pilot.

"Colonel Schaare's experience in the F-16 is invaluable to the squadron. His advanced age allows him to provide unique explanations of tactics. His personal leadership and dedication to diet and fitness truly set him apart at every level."

Colonel Schaares is an Orlando, Fla., native and a 1988 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. This is his second deployment to Balad.

"I take the flying here seriously," said Colonel Schaare. "There are a lot of people outside the wire that may need our help, and we are here to provide firepower at a moment's notice."

Even though there is only one seat in his F-16, Colonel Schaares attributes his accomplishment to teamwork.

"It's great working with our maintainers; they are the best. Why do you think I have 4,000 hours in the Viper? I couldn't have done it without the professionals that maintain such a complex airplane," he said.

David M. Hill, spokesman for Lockheed Martin Corporation, said Colonel Schaare is only the 34th F-16 pilot to reach the 4,000 hour milestone. Of the others to do so, three have been deployed to Balad: Lt. Col. Gary M. Middlebrooks, Col. Robert McCutchen, and Col. David A. Lujan.

Despite the rarity of the 4,000-hour milestone, the colonel remains philosophical.

"I never thought it would happen," said Colonel Schaare. "I feel lucky that my career path has kept me flying the Viper this long. Divine intervention? I wouldn't change a thing."

August 17, 2010 (by Capt Gerardo Gonzalez) - With the announcement by Air Force officials that Luke Air Force Base was selected as the preferred alternative for F-35 Lightning II training came another announcement, the move of two F-16 Fighting Falcon squadrons to Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
The move of F-16's to Holloman is a strategic basing decision by the Air Force and not related to the possibility of Luke gaining the F-35 training mission. Holloman has the capacity to accept two F-16 squadrons and offers the ability to synergize training activities with MQ-1/9 training occurring on the same base.

No Luke squadrons have been identified for the move expected to happen in late 2011, at the earliest.

"It's important for everyone at Luke to remain focused on our current mission," said Brig. Gen. Kurt Neubauer, 56th Fighter Wing commander. "Until told otherwise, our job is to continue training F-16 fighter pilots and maintainers, and to deploy mission-ready war fighters."

The commander also said that higher headquarters will decide the move of any squadrons based on several factors, such as logistical support, aircraft maintenance considerations, the pilot training pipeline, and completion of the appropriate environmental analysis at Holloman.

Additionally, Luke being named a "preferred alternative" for F-35 training is not a final basing decision until the associated environmental analysis is complete. The final Air Force "record of decision" on the F-35 at Luke is planned for summer 2011.

The Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force implemented action to consolidate the F-22 Raptor fleet at bases that already have the aircraft, which resulted in the projected move of Raptors from Holloman to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; Langley AFB, Virginia; Nellis AFB, Nevada; and Tyndall AFB, Florida.

"This plan maximizes combat aircraft and squadrons available for contingencies," said Kathleen Ferguson, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for installations. "By consolidating aircraft at existing bases, F-22 operational flexibility is enhanced."

August 13, 2010 (by 1st Lt. Kathleen Polesnak) - Twenty-nine of the wing's dedicated crew chiefs were each assigned an F-16 Fighting Falcon during a ceremony today, recognizing them as the maintenance experts on their respective aircraft assigned to the 480th Fighter Squadron.
The ceremony also paired each crew chief with a pilot assigned to the aircraft.

Capt. Stephen Sparkman, 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron operations officer, explained an aircraft dedicated crew chief's responsibilities.

"The crew chief 'owns' the airplane, so they're responsible for the maintenance, upkeep, appearance, discrepancies - they have to keep it in tip-top shape, kind of like a race car crew chief," he said.

Staff Sgt. James Speicher, 480th Aircraft Maintenance Unit dedicated crew chief, has been an Air Force crew chief in the Air Force for seven years and said he's the most knowledgeable about "his" jet, which is the 480th FS flagship.

"If something's going on with that jet out there - whether it's something small or a freak occurrence - I'm the best person for it because I know it," Sergeant Speicher said.

Along with their names on their respective jets, crew chiefs received coins and certificates from Lt. Col. Robert Clement, 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander, and recited a crew chief oath to "pledge unyielding adherence to (the) precepts for the advancement of aviation and the dignity of (the) profession."

The acknowledgement from leadership and pilots is what made this ceremony special, said Sergeant Speicher and some of his fellow 480th AMU crew chiefs. A crew chief's name on an aircraft's canopy signifies "pride, ownership, and flight chiefs and supervisors' trust in you to manage that jet," Sergeant Speicher said.

Additionally, the ceremony serves as a motivator for junior Airmen aspiring to become dedicated crew chiefs, he said.

"Hopefully they see that it's not just a given thing or an easy thing to become and it pushes people to meet standards," Sergeant Speicher added.

To be a dedicated crew chief, a maintainer must have a deeper knowledge of the aircraft, go through a crew chief class, accrue a certain amount of time on an airframe, as well as display initiative and leadership, Captain Sparkman said.

"They are hand-picked, they are selected and they are scrutinized to become a DCC," Colonel Clement said at the ceremony. "They are a cut above the rest."

The DCC ceremony is a milestone for the wing, as it followed the activation of the 480th Fighter Squadron, which combined the 22nd and 23rd fighter squadrons into a single F-16 squadron here. In turn, crew chiefs were reassigned from aircraft in the 22nd and 23rd aircraft maintenance units to F-16s in the 480th AMU.

"Being able to say the 23rd is done, the 22nd is done, here's the 480th - and literally, the next hour, we're being recognized as the dedicated crew chiefs - that's awesome," said Tech Sgt. Ben Cuthbert, 480th AMU Airplane General Flight assistant flight chief. "The DCC ceremony was the olive branch - recognition of whether we work in operations or maintenance, we're all in the brotherhood of the Air Force."

Col. Andrew Wolcott, 480th FS commander, also expressed the importance of recognizing crew chiefs for their efforts in maintaining the wing's fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons.

"The jets don't fly by themselves," he said. "It takes a lot of work and dedication behind every sortie to generate it. When that jet goes up into the air, every mission it supports is fueled by maintenance and with the crew chief's name on it, he can take pride in all that jet participates in.

"The last thing we do before we close the canopy is shake the crew chief's hand and he goes down the ladder. There's a real tight bond between operations and maintenance - certainly a bond of trust and professionalism that the maintenance performed on the jet was professionally done and ready to perform the mission, which takes a high-level of technical expertise to make sure it's ready."

August 13, 2010 (by 1st Lt. Kathleen Polesnak) - The 480th Fighter Squadron is the 52nd Fighter Wing's newest F-16 Fighting Falcon squadron as of 13.48h today at an activation ceremony held in a hangar.
The new squadron comes after the Combat Air Forces Restructuring plan transitioned 21 F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 22nd and 23rd fighter squadrons here to the 148th Fighter Wing located at Duluth Air National Guard Base in Minnesota. As a result, the wing inactivated the two squadrons and activated the 480th FS, which holds significant historical precedence to the base and region, said Col. Jackson Fox, 52nd Operations Group commander.

Colonel Fox oversees all aircraft operations here and was the presiding officer for the squadron activation ceremony, whereby the 22nd Fighter Squadron was officially inactivated and the 480th FS was reactivated for the first time in 16 years.

"Activating the 480th here at Spangdahlem Air Base continues our wing's proud tradition of heritage while moving forward into the future," Colonel Fox said.

Reigniting heritage

The 480th was first activated as the 480th Fighter Bomber Group, flying F-100 Super Sabres in 1957 at England Air Force Base, Louisiana, then re-equipped with F-4C Phantom IIs and moved to Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, in 1966.

In November 1967 a member of the 480th, Capt. Lance Sijan, was shot down and badly injured in North Vietnam. Despite his injuries he evaded enemy forces for more than 40 days and then, when captured, managed to escape briefly. Captain Sijan later died in a prison camp and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. In 1969 the squadron moved to Phu Cat Air Base, South Vietnam, scoring nine MiG kills, including the first MiG-21 kill of the war.

The 480th began its service at Spangdahlem when it moved to the base in 1976, flying F-4D Skyrays, then F-4G Advanced Wild Weasels as part of the Wild Weasel mission. In 1987, the 480th started flying F-16Cs and became the Air Force's first squadron to be equipped with the block 50 F-16s in 1993. The 480th was inactivated again in 1994.

To further signify its historical roots, the 480th FS has now taken on the motto, "From Escadrille to Warhawks." This recognizes the Lafayette Escadrille, the 38 American pilots who volunteered to fly for the French Aéronautique militaire in April 1916, prior to America's entry into World War I.

"The Lafayette Escadrille dispersed and helped the Americans who came over understand the war," said Lt. Col. Andrew Wolcott, 480th FS commander. "I think the neatest piece is what it says about the American fighting spirit and the birth of American fighter aviation.

"One of the first battles was in St Mihiel, (France), which is really close to here. While lineage isn't directly tied to the 480th, it is tied to everything we do today and through military aviation. The birthplace of military aviation is certainly unique and it's an honor to be able to celebrate that heraldry that goes with it."

The Escadrille fought all across the western front, suffered more than 30 percent casualties and provided a hub of experienced fighter pilots for new American fighter squadrons when they arrived in France after America's declaration of war.

Pilots from the Escadrille transferred to the Air Service, American Expeditionary Force, and went on to command both squadrons and groups. Known at the time as "The Valiant 38," Lafayette Escadrille members were the founding fathers of American fighter aviation in Europe, a tradition the 480th plans to continue, Colonel Wolcott said.

Patching a squadron

Regardless of the name changes, the squadron's mission here remains the same, Colonel Wolcott said. But more importantly, he added, the squadron is now the only F-16 Fighting Falcon squadron in the European Command to provide suppression of enemy air defense support.

"The biggest change is the fact that there's only one squadron," Colonel Wolcott explained. "That requires us to focus more on SEAD than we have in the past because it's a very demanding skill-set to know enemy threat systems and capabilities. We're looking forward to getting back to our Wild Weasel roots and really mastering that skill-set so we can be ready to provide support of enemy air defense whenever called upon."

Transitioning to a single F-16 squadron didn't happen overnight. Once aircraft transitioned to the states as part of the CAF Restructure, the 22nd and 23rd fighter squadrons conducted combined training and operations as a single squadron.

"On the professional level, I think the pilots were mostly concerned with mission accomplishment, so their drive and motivation to be the best fighter pilots they can be, to excel in their mission and upgrade to the next stage in their career, outweighed any discord of rapidly combining two squadrons," Colonel Wolcott said. "They took off the patch one day and put on another patch. The 480th is good because it gives one single vector and everyone's on the same level."

On the other hand, having two squadrons with the same assets and mission allowed them to rely on one another for not only day-to-day requirements within the wing, but also for deployments. For example, each squadron supplemented the other with pilots during back-to-back deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom last year.

"The pilots have typically had a good working relationship between the squadrons, which has helped. With two squadrons, you sort of had a shock-absorber effect," Colonel Wolcott said. "Both squadrons deployed to OIF, both squadrons had to call on the other squadron in the spin-up process, deploying and the redeployment phase, where we were building back up. Now with one squadron to absorb all that, it's much more difficult."

Evidence of a successful transition was the "excellent" the wing received for its U.S. Air Forces in Europe Operational Readiness Inspection in June. This was one of the first major tasks the squadron had to complete as a single unit, Colonel Wolcott explained, and 12 of 17 excellent ratings came from the 52nd Operations Group. The transfer of aircraft to Duluth, Minn. was taking place during the spin-up for the inspection.

"That's a testament to how well everyone did in that merger," Colonel Wolcott said. During a significant change, the squadron was able to "produce great success."