The wing was raised in 1957 at
Lechfeld Air Base and was officially activated on 22 July 1958, initially equipped with
Republic F-84F Thunderstreak fighters. On 14 September 1961, two of its planes
mistakenly crossed into East German airspace and were forced to land at the French West Berlin Air Base while being hunted by Soviet fighters. This was a serious diplomatic incident at a time of high tensions, and in answer to the question of what to do with the aircraft, the French secretly buried them on the airfield, a fact not discovered until 1970. The wing began to receive
Lockheed F-104 Starfighters during 1965 and the last Thunderstreak left Lechfeld Air Base on 13 July 1966. In 1984 the wing began its conversion to
Panavia Tornado IDS strike fighters. In 1991 the wing was equipped with 35 new Tornado ECR fighters and began its new mission as Germany's only suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) capable wing. On 17 July 1995 Tornado ECRs of
JaBoG 32 transferred to
San Damiano Air Base in Italy, from where they flew SEAD missions in support of
NATOs
Operation Deliberate Force over Bosnia and Herzegovina. These were the first combat operations for the German Armed Forces since World War II. From 24 March to 11 June 1999
JaBoG 32 participated in
NATOs
Operation Allied Force against
Yugoslavia. The Tornado ECRs carrying
AGM-88 HARM missiles escorted allied aircraft over Yugoslavian territory to neutralize hostile
air defense threats. A total of 236 HARM missiles were fired by
JaBoG 32 during the campaign. In 2008 the first German female combat pilot, Ulrike Flender, joined
JaBoG 32. In October 2011 the German
Federal Ministry of Defence announced a reorganisation/reduction of the
German Armed Forces. As a result of this reorganisation, the wing was disbanded on 31 March 2013, with personnel and planes joining the 1st Squadron of
Aufklärungsgeschwader 51 (
Reconnaissance Wing 51). ==References==