78th Fighter Squadron
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| 78th Fighter Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1917 – June 30, 2003 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Type | Squadron |
| Role | Fighter-Bomber |
| Part of | 20th Fighter Wing |
| Garrison/HQ | Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina |
| Nickname | "Bushmasters" |
| Motto | "Once a Bushmaster, Always a Bushmaster" |
| Colors | Yellow, Black, Red |
| Mascot | Snake or Bushmaster |
| Engagements | Pacific Theater of WWII, Desert Storm, Operation Northern and Southern Watch |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation - April 1945, Outstanding Unit Award - 2002. |
| Disbanded | 30 June 2003 |
| Aircraft flown | |
| Attack | F-84F, A-10 |
| Fighter | F-86, F-16 |
| Interceptor | F-101 |
| Patrol | P-12, P-26, P-36, P-39, P-40, P-51 |
| Reconnaissance | RF-101 |
The 78th Fighter Squadron is a former fighter squadron of the United States Air Force, which operated F-16 Block 50 Fighting Falcons in the roles of air-to-air, air-to-surface and enemy air defense suppression. The 78th was one of four F-16 squadrons assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
[edit] History
[edit] Early History
The 78th was born in 1917 at Rich Field, Waco Field, Texas as a training unit. In February 1918, the 78th, along with the 77th and 79th moved to Hicks Field, Fort Worth, Texas. In 1931, the 78th Pursuit Squadron was assigned to the 20th Pursuit Group at Mather Field, California flying single seat Boeing P-12 biplane fighters.
During World War II the unit was recognized as the 78th Aero Service Squadron and stationed in the Pacific theater where the unit flew P-39's, P-40's, and P-51's. With a combat record from the war of 200 enemy aircraft destroyed or damaged, versus the loss of only 6 aircraft assigned to the unit. The 78th received the Distinguished Unit Citation for actions at the Musashino Plant, Tokyo, Japan, on April 7, 1945.
On 10 February, 1951, the 116th Tactical Fighter Squadron from the Washington state Air National Guard, was moved to join the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, stationed in Larson AFB, Washington. Also in 1951, the entire 81st wing moved to RAF Woodbridge, United Kingdom. On the 1st November 1952 the 116th became the 78th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and flew F-86 Sabers. In 1954 the 81st became a Fighter Bomber Wing and the assigned squadrons began flying the F-84F. Then in 1958, the 78th received it's first F-101 "Voodoo" aircraft.
[edit] Modern Hstory
In the mid 1980's the 78th converted to the F-16 fighting falcon, a fly by wire, single engine, multi-role fighter. Deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990, the unit took part in a coalition force against the government of Iraq's decision to invade Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm. After the first gulf war, the unit began a constant rotation of deployments to patrol the Northern and Southern No-Fly Zones of Iraq, Operation Northern and Southern Watch. The last of which took place in mid to late 2002 where they deployed to Incirlink Air Base, Turkey. They were replaced on the deployment by the 55th Fighter Squadron.
In March 2003, when Operation Iraqi Freedom kicked off the 78th received word to prepare to head overseas. Equipment and personnel just waited for the order to deploy to Turkey, when the Turkish government refused to let munitions destined for targets in Iraq leave their country the 78th stood down. The 79th also remained at Shaw due to their aircraft going through upgrade maintenance.
Upon decommissioning, the 78th's aircraft and maintenance personnel transferred assignments to the 55th FS/AMU, also at Shaw AFB, SC. The 55th aircraft were transferred to Cannon AFB, NM, and the personnel were spread between the 77th Fighter Squadron, 79th Fighter Squadron, and a very few remained in the 55th.
