157th Fighter Squadron: Difference between revisions

157th Fighter Squadron
157th Fighter Squadron
	File:157th Fighter Squadron emblem.png 157th Fighter Squadron Squadron Emblem
Active	1942 – present
Country	United States
Branch	Air National Guard
Type	Squadron
Role	Fighter
Part of	South Carolina Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ	McEntire Joint National Guard Base, Columbia, South Carolina
Engagements	Desert Storm

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Revision as of 03:15, 21 October 2012

The 157th Fighter Squadron (157 FS) is a unit of the South Carolina Air National Guard 169th Fighter Wing located at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, Columbia, South Carolina. The 157th FS is one of the few Air National Guard squadrons to operate the HARM Targeting System (HTS)-equipped F-16C Block 52 Fighting Falcon, also known as the F-16CJ.

History

World War II

see: 353d Fighter Group for full World War II history

Activated in late 1942. Trained under First Air Force in northeastern United States with P-40 Warhawks, also performing Air Defense as part of Norfolk and Philadelphia Fighter Wings. Deployed to European Theater of Operations, June 1943, being equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts in England. Assigned as a heavy bomber escort squadron under VIII Fighter Command. Re-equipped with long-range P-51D Mustangs, July 1944, Thunderbolts being transferred to IX Fighter Command as tactical fighter-bombers supporting ground forces in France. Performed bomber escort missions until the end of the war in Europe, April 1945.

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 South Carolina Air National Guard, on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Congaree Air Base, Columbia, South Carolina and was extended federal recognition on 9 December 1946 by the National Guard Bureau. The 157th Fighter Squadron was bestowed the history, honors, and colors of the 350th Fighter Squadron and assigned to the Georgia ANG 54th Fighter Wing, an umbrella organization formed for administrative and logistical support for many Air National Guard units in the southeastern United States. It remained, however, under the operational control of the South Carolina Air National Guard.

The 157th was equipped with F-51D Mustangs and was assigned an air defense mission for the state of South Carolina. In 1950 the 157th was re-equipped with former World War II F-5 Mustangs, now designated RF-51D which had been used in the United States in a training role and the squadron became part of Tactical Air Command as a Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

Korean War activation

The 157th Fighter Squadron was federalized due to the Korean War on 10 October 1950. On 1 November the RF-51 Mustangs were transferred to other units and the 157th was re-equipped with RF-80A Shooting Star photo-reconnaissance jets and transferred to Lawson AFB, Georgia. At Lawson, the wartime 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was formed with the 157th along with the 160th TRS (Alabama ANG) with RF-80As and the 112th TRS (Ohio ANG) with RB-26C Invader Night Reconnaissance aircraft. The 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was assigned to Ninth Air Force, Tactical Air Command.

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 Wiesbaden AB, the 157th TRS deployed to Furstenfeldbruck AB, and the 160th deployed to Neubiberg AB. The non-flying Headquarters and Support organizations were assigned to Toul.

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-80's 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-80's 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-80's 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 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. All of the aircraft and support equipment remained at Toul and was transferred to the 10th TRW.

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 F-51H Mustangs and the unit was allocated to the Eastern Air Defense Force, Air Defense Command (ADC). After the Korean Armistice in 1953, the 157th began to receive F-86A Sabre jets, pressed into the interceptor mission by ADC. In 1954, the Mustangs were reaching the end of their service life, and ADC supplied the 157th with some F-80C Shooting stars as an interim replacement.

On 5 September 1957, the 157th Fighter-Bomber Squadron was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 169th Fighter-Interceptor Group was established by the National Guard Bureau. The 157th was re-designated as a Fighter-Interceptor squadron and became the group's flying squadron. Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 169th Headquarters, 169th Material Squadron (Maintenance), 169th Combat Support Squadron, and the 169th USAF Dispensary.

Shortly afterwards Air Defense Command upgraded the new 169th FIG to the all-weather/day-night F-86L Sabre Interceptor aircraft, and in 1960, the 157th was one of three selected ANG units to receive F-104A Starfighter mach-2 interceptors from the ADC active-duty interceptor forces. The "Swamp Foxes", as a result of the national recognition as one of the best air defense units in the nation, were chosen to fly the new high performance jet fighter.

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 Harrisburg, Pa., to crash into the Susquehanna River. On 1 October 1961, then-Governor Ernest F. Hollings presided over the ceremony renaming the heroic wing commander's South Carolina installation from Congaree Air Base to McEntire Air National Guard Base.

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.

In June 1963 the F-104s were transferred back to the active-duty Air Force and sent to Homestead AFB, Florida, where Air Defense Command was setting up a permanent presence after the Cuban Missile Crisis where the Starfighters would be better located for Air Defense against Soviet MiG fighters that were flown by the Cuban Air Force. The South Carolina ANG was re-equipped with the F-102A Delta Dagger, which was being replaced in the active duty interceptor force by the F-106. The Mach-2 "Deuce", still a very potent interceptor, served with the 169th FIG until April 1975, when Aerospace Defense Command was reducing the USAF interceptor force as the threat of Soviet Bombers attacking the United States was deemed remote.

Tactical Air Command

With the phase-down of continental air defenses in the 1970s, the 169th was transferred to Tactical Air Command, and was re-designated a Tactical Fighter Group. The 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron began to receive A-7D Corsair II subsonic tactical close air support aircraft from Tactical Air Command units that were preparing to receive the new A-10 Thunderbolt II. Receiving its aircraft from the 354th TFW at Myrtle Beach AFB and the 355th TFW at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The aircraft had excellent accuracy with the aid of an automatic electronic navigation and weapons delivery system. Although designed primarily as a ground attack aircraft, it also had limited air-to-air combat capability. In 1982, the 157th received new twin-seat A-7K trainers.

In the early 1980s, the South Carolina congressional delegation in Congress, led by Senators Strom Thurmond and Earnest Hollings, pressured the Department of Defense to upgrade Army and Air National Guard units with front line equipment to better supplement the Active Duty forces as part of the "Total Force" concept. Specifically, Thurmond and Hollings wanted the Air Force to equip the South Carolina ANG with the new F-16 Fighting Falcon, which was, as the time, just being introduced into the active duty force of Tactical Air Command. Beginning in July 1983, some of the initial Block 1 and Block 5 F-16As were transferred to the 169th Tactical Fighter Group, being the first Air National Guard unit to receive the aircraft. Its A-7Ds were subsequently re-assigned to other Air National Guard units. Later, Block 10 F-16A/B were delivered by the Air Force to the 157th TFS. By the mid eighties all the F-16s received by the 169th had undergone Pacer Loft modification bringing them up to the same block 10 standard.

With the equipment change to the F-16, the 169th was assigned to the air defense mission again under Air Defense, Tactical Air Command, which was established when TAC assumed the Aerospace Defense Command mission in 1979. In addition, although the F-16s weren't adapted to perform in the tactical close air support mission that the A-7D was utilized for, the 157th TFS did practice the conventional attack role with Mark 82 (Mk 82) and Mark 84 (Mk 84) gliding bombs. The quality of the pilots and ammunition/maintenance crews of the 157th TFS was demonstrated during Gunsmoke '89 held at Nellis AFB from October 1st till October 14th. The 157th TFS took first place out of 15 other teams.

In December 1990, during the build up for war during Operation Desert Shield, the 157th was federalized for a third time and was deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia just a year and a half after taking first place at Gunsmoke '89. The 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron (Provisional) flew a total of 1,729 combat sorties during Operation Desert Storm. A total mission rate of over 90% was achieved, which was quite a remarkable feat.

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 F-16C/D Fighting Falcons coming straight from the Lockheed facility at Fort Worth, Texas. The 162d Fighter Group becoming the first Air National Guard unit to receive these state-of-the-art aircraft. The mission profile of the unit changed in the way that they became a mult-irole squadron being able to perform all kind of missions. More specifically they also received the HARM Targeting System being able to fly anti-radar sorties with the AGM-88 anti-radar missile. The main mission profile of the squadron therefore changed to that of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). The unit is flying this mission since. Also, on 11 October 1995 ACC and the National Guard Board authorized the status of the 162d to be expanded to the Wing level, and the 157th Fighter Squadron became part of the new 162d Operations Group under the new 162d 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 into a combined force. Instead of entire permanent units deploying units 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 formed from 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 Guard unit to deploy alongside active-duty Air Force units to comprise an Air Expeditionary Force.

The 157th EFS was activated again in January 2000 as a component of Operation Northern Watch; a US European Command Combined Task Force (CTF) who was responsible for enforcing the United Nations mandated no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq. This mission was a successor to Operation Provide Comfort which also entailed support for the Iraqi Kurds. The deployment was completed in April 2000. The EFS was formed again in March 2001, when the 157th deployed to Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia in a second Operation Southern Watch deployment. The guardsmen returned to McIntire JGB in July.

Global War on Terrorism

In 2002, aircraft and personnel from the 169th deployed to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and participated directly in combat operations. Also that year, 50 South Carolina ANG Airmen, then assigned to the 240th Combat Communications Squadron, deployed to Central Asia for six months in support of the Global War on Terrorism, and the 245th ATCS deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

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 Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 169th was attached to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, stationed in Qatar, and flew more than 400 combat missions (performing the Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses mission and flying numerous precision bombing missions over Iraq).

In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission announced an historic expansion at McEntire. Five more F-16s would arrive at the base in 2006 and five more the following year. Then, in 2007, Regular 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.