| 138th Fighter Wing | |
|---|---|
138th Fighter Wing emblem |
|
| Active | 1957-Present |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force/Air National Guard |
| Type | Wing |
| Role | Air Combat |
| Part of | Air National Guard/Air Combat Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Tulsa International Airport, Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Motto | Strength through Preparedness |
| Colors | Rainbow |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Brigadier General Mike Hepner |
The United States Air Force's 138th Fighter Wing (138 FW) is a fighter unit located at Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An Air National Guard (ANG) unit operationally-gained by the Air Combat Command (ACC), the wing flies the F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighter.
Contents |
The federal mission of the 138th Fighter Wing is to maintain combat forces ready for mobilization, deployment and employment as needed to support national security objectives. As a unit of the Oklahoma Air National Guard, the wing's state mission is to support the governor of the state of Oklahoma with units organized, equipped and trained in the protection of life and property, and preservation of peace, order and public safety under competent orders of authority.[1]
Organized in December 1940 as Oklahoma National Guard's first flying unit in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the 125th Observation Squadron was federally recognized in January 1941. For the next three and a half years the squadron was attached to the 77th Observation Group and the 76th Tactical Reconnaissance Group at various locales in the United States before arriving at Liverpool, England on D-Day in 1944. After moving across the English Channel to France in August 1944, the 125th Liaison Squadron was attached to the U.S. Ninth Army until V-E Day, participating in the campaigns of northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and central Europe, and was awarded the Belgian Fourragere for gallantry during the Battle of the Bulge in July 1945. Over the course of those five years, the 125th flew the 0-38E, 0-52 and L-5.
Back home in Tulsa in November 1945 as the 125th Fighter Squadron, the Unit flew the F-51 Mustang until February 1947 when it was designated the 125th Fighter Bomber Squadron (Jet) and equipped with the F-84 Thunderstreak. After receiving the Spaatz Trophy Award in 1950, the 125th was again ordered to active duty under the Ninth Air Force and sent to England AFB in Alexandria, Louisiana until July 1952. After returning to Tulsa under state control the squadron flew the F-51 Mustang and F-80 Shooting Star until becoming part of the 138th Fighter Group (AD) for duty with the Air Defense Command flying the F-86D Sabrejet in August 1957.
January 1960 brought significant change to the 125th as the unit was designated the 125th Air Transport Squadron and assigned to the 137th Air Transport Wing in Oklahoma City. For the next eight years the unit flew the C-97, transporting cargo to Vietnam and throughout the world before converting to the C-124 Globemaster II in 1968.
In October 1972, the 125th Tactical Fighter Wing resumed its rich heritage of tactical fighter operations by converting to the T-33 Shooting Star in preparation for activation in the F-100D Super Sabre in March 1973, and once again became part of the 138th Tactical Fighter Group in January 1973. The 125th converted to the A-7D Corsair II in July 1978 and amassed 15 years of outstanding combat readiness in the venerable SLUF.
After conversion to the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the 138th Fighter Wing has participated in Operation Provide Comfort, Operation Northern Watch, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit's deployment to Iraq in 2008 marked their 10th deployment to the Middle East. Additionally, the laser targeting pod system for precision guided munitions employment has been incorporated into the unit mission.
Since June 1993, the men and women of the 125th Fighter Squadron and the 138th Fighter Wing have flown the Lockheed F-16C and F-16D Fighting Falcon multirole fighter aircraft.[2]
On 14 March 2008 a 138th Fighter Wing-assigned fighter aircraft en route to the Smokey Hill Gunnery Range in Salina, Kansas accidentally dropped a 22-pound, non-explosive practice bomb on an apartment complex in Tulsa, damaging a building foundation and knocking out the power to the building. No one was injured and the 138th Fighter Wing announced that they were investigating the incident themselves.[3]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||