World War II The
squadron was originally activated at
Drew Field, Florida on 1 March 1943 as the
625th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the
405th Bombardment Group. It was initially equipped with
Douglas A-24 Banshees and
Bell P-39 Airacobras. Although retaining the same mission and equipment, in August the squadron was renamed the
510th Fighter-Bomber Squadron. The following month, it moved to
Walterboro Army Air Field, South Carolina, where it began to fly the
Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, with which it would be equipped for the rest of
World War II. On 14 February 1944, the 510th left its training base for the
European Theater of Operations. The squadron arrived at its first station in the theater,
RAF Christchurch, England in early March 1944 and flew its first combat mission the following month. It dropped the "bomber" portion of its designation in May, but retained the
fighter bomber mission. The 510th helped prepare for
Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, by striking
military airfields, and
lines of communication, particularly bridges and railroad marshalling yards. On
D-Day, it flew combat patrols in the vicinity of
Brest, France, and in the following days flew
armed reconnaissance missions over Normandy. Its operations from D-Day through September 1944 supporting the liberation of Belgium earned the squadron a citation in the Order of the Day of the
Belgian Army. The squadron received a
Distinguished Unit Citation for action on 24 September 1944 when the
4th Armored Division experienced a
counterattack by enemy forces and urgently needed air support. Elements of the 405th Group attacked the enemy
armor despite an 800-foot ceiling that forced attacks to be made from low level in the face of intense
flak. A second
group element was unable to locate the tank battle because of the adverse weather, but located a reinforcing column of armor and trucks, causing major damage. A third element attacked warehouses and other buildings in the vicinity that were being used by the enemy. It briefly served in the
occupation forces at
AAF Station Straubing, but by 8 July was mostly a paper unit. Its remaining personnel returned to the United States in October and the squadron was inactivated upon arrival at the port of embarkation. In 2014, a description of
Stu Roosa's time as an astronaut described how the 510th had been charged to deploy to bases in West Germany to deliver nuclear weapons onto Soviet targets, eject, as fuel aboard their F-100s was not sufficient, and to escape and evade back to the West.
Vietnam War The squadron was redesignated the
510th Tactical Fighter Squadron and activated in April 1959, when the
405th Fighter Wing replaced the
6200th Air Base Wing at
Clark Air Base, Philippines. The squadron assumed the mission, personnel and F-100 Super Sabres of the
72d Tactical Fighter Squadron, In 1959, the squadron deployed twice to
Chiayi Air Base in Taiwan, and deployed a detachment to
Tainan Air Base from December 1959 to November 1965, and in spring 1962, to
Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base as part of Joint Task Force 116. The squadron left Clark in March 1964 for
England Air Force Base, Louisiana, where the
3d Wing was reforming as a tactical fighter unit. The squadron was not long at England before it returned to Clark, deploying there from May through August 1965, attached to its old headquarters, the 405th Fighter Wing. It was back in Louisiana for less than four months, for, in November it moved to
Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam as the 3d Wing replaced the
6251st Tactical Fighter Wing there.
Fighter operations in Europe A-10 "Warthog" operations The squadron was activated at
RAF Bentwaters, England in October 1978 as the
81st Tactical Fighter Wing changed its mission to close air support and
air interdiction, equipped with
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, and expanded from three to six operational squadrons. The squadron participated in joint and combined exercises with American and British ground forces and periodically deployed to designated wartime operating bases. The squadron deployed aircraft and personnel to
Incirlik Air Base, Turkey for
Operation Provide Comfort to support Kurdish relief in Northern Iraq from 6 September to 10 December 1991, 8 April to 10 June 1992, and from 6 August to 30 October 1992. In the middle of this last deployment, on 1 October 1992, the squadron was reassigned to the
52d Operations Group at
Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. In January 1993, it moved to Spangdahlem and joined its parent group. During 1993 and 1994, the 510th flew more than 1,700 combat sorties from
Aviano Air Base, Italy, in support of
Operation Deny Flight. The squadron continued its attack mission until inactivating in March 1994.
F-16 "Viper" operations The 510th was reactivated at
Aviano Air Base, Italy on 1 July 1994 as the
510th Fighter Squadron. The squadron was equipped with
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons made available from the
512th Fighter Squadron at
Ramstein Air Base, Germany, which was inactivating as the
86th Fighter Wing became an
airlift unit. The 510th, during
Operation Deliberate Force, the 1995 NATO intervention in Bosnia, was the first F-16 Block 40 squadron to drop a
laser-guided bomb. It also made the first combat use of
night vision goggles in an F-16 during
Operation Deliberate Guard, a follow-up operation. It was also one of the first F-16 units to become
Forward Air Controllers (Airborne), and were the first controllers to employ the F-16 in combat. In October 1998, the squadron deployed its F-16s to
Incirlik Air Base, Turkey to fly in support of
Operation Northern Watch. In
Operation Allied Force, the air war over Serbia, the 510th flew more combat missions than any other F-16 squadron. Subsequently, the squadron was the first Aviano fighter squadron to deploy to
Operation Southern Watch in June 2000. During those deployments the squadron engaged in combat operations over Iraq in both surface attack and
combat search and rescue. From September to December 2002, the Buzzards returned to Operation Southern Watch and dropped 136,508 pounds of ordnance over Iraq to include the first use of the GBU-31A
Joint Direct Attack Munition in F-16CG combat. ==Lineage==