:
For additional lineage and history, see 1st Fighter Group Origins The
1st Fighter Wing was activated at
March Field California on 15 August 1947. It was assigned to
Twelfth Air Force,
Tactical Air Command (TAC). In December 1948 Twelfth Air Force was assigned from Tactical Air Command to
Continental Air Command (ConAC), established on 1 December 1948. ConAC assumed jurisdiction over both TAC and the
Air Defense Command (ADC). This move reflected an effort to concentrate all fighter forces deployed within the continental United States to strengthen the air defense of the
North American continent. The move was largely an administrative convenience: the units assigned to ConAC were dual-trained and expected to revert to their primary strategic or tactical roles after the air defense battle was won. The 1st Fighter Wing was subsequently transferred from Twelfth Air Force/TAC to
Fourth Air Force/ConAC on 20 December 1948. Organizational and equipment changes continued throughout 1949. The first
F-86 Sabre, assigned to the
94th Fighter Squadron, arrived on 15 February. By the end of June the wing had received seventy-nine of its eighty-three authorized F-86s. On 1 May the wing transferred from ConAC to
Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the
Fifteenth Air Force. The wing was subsequently attached to the
22d Bombardment Wing on 1 July. At March, the wing trained in large formation flying and competed to establish various formation records. The 71st Fighter Squadron struck first in September 1949, when it launched a twelve and later an eighteen-aircraft formation. The 27th and the 94th countered on 21 October. On that day the 94th launched three thirteen-plane formations, but the 27th topped this with two twenty-one plane formations, The purpose of this exercise became clear in early January 1950, when the wing deployed a sizable contingent of aircraft to participate in the filming of the
RKO film
Jet Pilot. The group claimed a final formation record on 4 January when it passed a twenty-four plane formation (consisting of eight aircraft from each squadron) before the cameras. The group formed its own aerial demonstration team in January 1950. The team, dubbed the "Sabre Dancers", was composed of five members of the 27th Fighter Squadron. The Sabre Dancers made what was probably their most widely viewed flight on 22 April 1950, when they performed before an Armed Forces Day audience at
Eglin AFB, Florida, that included President
Harry S. Truman, most of his Cabinet, and numerous other political leaders. Effective 16 April 1950 the 1st Fighter Wing was redesignated the
1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, the same designation that was simultaneously applied to the group and its three squadrons. The wing had, some days previously, been relieved from its attachment to the 22d Bombardment Wing. The organizational changes the wing had experienced since 1947 paled in comparison to the multitude of changes the unit underwent during the last six months of 1950. As of 30 June 1950, the 1st Fighter-Interceptor Group was assigned to the 1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, which was itself assigned to Fifteenth Air Force and SAC. On 1 July the wing was relieved from assignment to Fifteenth Air Force and SAC and assigned to the Fourth Air Force and ConAC. The organizational instability of the early 1950s was rooted in the demands of the
Korean War. With the end of the war in Korea the Air Defense Command found itself in a position to return to a more traditional command structure. The 1st Fighter-Interceptor Wing was redesignated the
1st Fighter Wing (Air Defense) on 14 September 1956 and activated on 18 October 1956 at Selfridge AFB, Michigan. It was assigned to the Eastern Air Defense Force. After enduring a six-year period of frequent organizational changes, the wing began a period of stability. For approximately the next thirteen years it remained at Selfridge. Both the 71st and the 94th FIS traded their F-86s for
F-102 Delta Dagger interceptors between 1958 and 1960. While the wing and its units operated from Selfridge AFB the 27th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron remained on the east coast. As of 31 December 1961 it was stationed at
Dow AFB, Maine, and assigned to the
Bangor Air Defense Sector,
26th Air Division. At that time the squadron was equipped with
F-106 Delta Darts, and was not part of the 1st Fighter Wing. The response to this intrusion was to deploy ten F-106s from the
325th Fighter Wing to Alaska in what was called Operation White Shoes. While the 325th wing upgraded its F-106s, the 1st Fighter Wing relieved it from March to June 1964. While deployed in Alaska, two of the wing's F-106s were damaged in the
Good Friday earthquake. Beginning in about 1965 the wing began to transfer pilots to other units in or en route to
South Vietnam. While the wing itself did not participate in the
Vietnam War, its units were soon manned by personnel who had completed tours in
Southeast Asia, with the 1st serving as a transition unit for many pilots en route to or returning from Southeast Asia. Headquarters, United States Air Force authorized the reassignment of the 1st Fighter Wing (Air Defense) from Aerospace Defense Command to Tactical Air Command on 30 July 1970. Three days later, HQ ADC directed the commander of the 26th Air Division to move Headquarters, 1st Fighter Wing (Air Defense) from Hamilton AFB, California, to
MacDill AFB, Florida. All units moved without personnel or equipment. The personnel and equipment formerly of the 15th Tactical Fighter wing were reassigned to the 1st TFW. The squadrons of the 15 TFW were assigned to the historic wing: the
45th,
46th, and
47th Tactical Fighter Squadrons. Another organizational change effective 1 July 1971 transferred the wing from the
836th Air Division, inactivated on that date, to
Ninth Air Force.
Southwest Asia operations on display at the
National Museum of the United States Air Force. The training and experience gained was called upon in the summer of 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. On 7 August 1990, the 27th and 71st Tactical Fighter Squadrons began deploying to Saudi Arabia as the first American combat units on the ground in
Saudi Arabia, in support of the defense of the Arabian peninsula from further Iraqi aggression—an operation dubbed
Operation Desert Shield. In all, the 1 TFW deployed 48 aircraft to the Persian Gulf. By 16 January 1991, when Desert Shield came to a close, the Wing amassed 4,207 sorties patrolling the Kuwait and Iraq border areas. At 0115 local Saudi Arabia time, on 17 January 1991, sixteen 1st Tactical Fighter Wing F-15s departed King Abdul-Aziz Air Base and flew toward Iraq to participate in
Operation Desert Storm, the liberation of
Kuwait from the Iraqis. During the first night of the operation, Captain Steven W. Tate of the 71st Tactical Fighter Squadron, shot down an Iraqi
Mirage F-1, which turned out to be the wing's only kill during the war. It was also the first combat credit awarded to the wing under command of the U.S. Air Force. Upon its return on 8 March 1991, the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing had amassed a total of 2,564 sorties during Operation Desert Storm. The end of the First Gulf War did not bring an end to the Wing's support in Southwest Asia. Monitoring the southern no-fly zone, the 1st provided six-month coverage every year under
Operation Southern Watch and Operation Northern Watch. In October 1994, when Saddam Hussein again placed forces near the Kuwaiti border, the Wing participated in a short-notice deployment,
Operation Vigilant Warrior. Operation Vigilant Warrior demonstrated the need for an Air Force capability of providing combat air power globally at short notice. This requirement resulted in the concept of the Air Expeditionary Force (AEF.) During AEF II, the 1st Fighter Wing deployed 12 F-15s and over 600 personnel to Shaheed Mwaffaq Air Base, Jordan, from 12 April – 28 June 1996. Wing members built and operated from the bare base, and provided support to Operation Southern Watch, supporting UN sanctions and enforcing the no-fly zones in Iraq. On 25 June 1996, a fuel truck loaded with explosives detonated outside the
Khobar Towers Housing area, in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The bomb killed 19 Air Force members, including five airmen of the 71st Rescue Squadron, and consequently the 1st Fighter Wing relocated its Southwest Asia operations from Dhahran to
Prince Sultan Air Base,
Al Kharj.
From 1991 On 1 October 1991, the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing was redesignated 1st Fighter Wing; the 1st Fighter Group was redesignated as the
1st Operations Group and reactivated as part of the wing. The 1st Fighter Wing assumed responsibility of three additional missions—air control, airlift, and search and rescue: :—On 15 March 1992, the 74th Air Control Squadron was transferred to the 1st Fighter Wing. The 74th provided command and control of air operations for worldwide operations. :—On 1 February 1993, the 41st and 71st Rescue Squadrons, and the 741st Maintenance Squadron were assigned to the 1st Fighter Wing. Stationed at Patrick AFB, Fla., the units provided search and rescue for NASA's space shuttle missions, and support of combat search and rescue operations in Southwest Asia. Additionally, :—On 1 April 1993 C-21 operational support aircraft were assigned to the Wing with the establishment of Detachment 1, 1 OG. On 1 May, the detachment inactivated and the 12th Airlift Flight, with the same mission, activated. The
1st Rescue Group was activated as part of the 1st Fighter Wing on 14 June 1995, to provide operational control of the Search and Rescue mission. Two realignments ordered by Air Combat Command took effect on the same day, 1 April 1997. The most substantial one had been the 1st Rescue Group's reassignment to the 347th Wing at Moody Air Force Base. This move meant the loss of two types of aircraft, the HC-130P "Hercules" gunship, and the HH-60G "Pave Hawk" helicopter. When the Air Force decided to transfer 12th Airlift Flight to Air Mobility Command, another type of aircraft, the C-21, was removed from the 1st Fighter Wing's possession exactly four years after it had been assigned. What made the wing's valued participation in this contingency unique is the fact it sent no aircraft in support of it, exemplifying the diversity of the 1st Fighter Wing's comprehensive mission. More than 150 personnel from 11 units within the 1st Fighter Wing deployed to the European theater in direct support of
Operation Allied Force and associated operations such as Noble Anvil and Shining Hope. Responsible for the worldwide mobility commitment to execute command and control operations, the 74th Air Control Squadron provided the largest contingent of 1st Fighter Wing personnel and equipment to Operation Noble Anvil. The 74th ACS set up their equipment outside
Budapest, Hungary, to provide joint forces and theater commanders with an accurate air picture for conducting offensive and defensive missions. During Operation Allied Force, the 74th Air Control Squadron deployed to provide critical air control in the European Theater of Operations.
After September 11 terrorist attacks After the
September 11 attacks in 2001, the 1st Fighter Wing took to the skies to simultaneously defend the east and west coasts of the US against further terrorist attacks. The wing's F-15s were among the first fighters on scene over Washington, D.C., and remained on station continuously for the next six months. The 1st Fighter Wing simultaneously participated in the US homeland defense mission in
Operation Noble Eagle; maintained its lead wing status in the USAF's
Air Expeditionary Force rotations to Southwest Asia and Turkey, enforcing no-fly zones in Operation Southern Watch/
Operation Northern Watch until 2003; and deployed fighters to
Keflavík,
Iceland to fulfill
NATO treaty obligations. During the first stages of the
Iraq War in 2003, the 71st Fighter Squadron deployed again to Southwest Asia. In 2005, the 27th and 94th Fighter Squadrons became the first squadrons in the world to achieve operational status flying the
F-22 Raptor.
Joint basing The 1st Fighter Wing served as the host unit of Langley AFB from 1975 until 7 January 2010. The wing relinquished two of its four groups to the newly reactivated
633d Air Base Wing, which assumed host duties for Langley AFB. The change of command also was a pivotal step in the realignment consolidation of Langley AFB and
Fort Eustis into Joint Base Langley-Eustis, which stood up in January 2010.
2023 Chinese balloon incident during the
2023 Chinese balloon incident On 4 February 2023, F-22s of the 1st Fighter Wing were dispatched from Langley AFB to shadow
an alleged Chinese spy balloon that had been floating southeastward over the continental United States for several days. Once the balloon floated over the
Atlantic Ocean near
South Carolina, one of the F-22s fired a single
AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile at the balloon from an altitude of 58,000 feet, downing it. The wreckage landed approximately 6 miles offshore and was subsequently secured by ships of the
US Navy and
US Coast Guard. The downing of the balloon marked the first air-to-air kill made by an F-22. During this mission, the F-22s of the 1st Fighter Wing were assisted by
F-15s from the
104th Fighter Wing of the
Massachusetts Air National Guard, as well as tanker aircraft from various other units of the United States Air Force, including the
916th Air Refueling Wing of
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. ==Lineage, assignments==