The mission of the unit is to maintain a state of readiness to deploy people and their assigned fighter aircraft (the F-16) wherever needed when notified of recall to active duty. Wing people assigned to the 301st Fighter Wing repeatedly demonstrate their flying expertise and professionalism in Air Combat Command, Air Force Reserve Command and NATO exercises designed to emphasize that to retain the country's combat ready posture it must train as it plans to fight.
Day-to-day activities of the wing are managed by full-time air reserve technicians (ARTs) and Department of the Air Force civilians. Ready Reservist assigned to the wing are required to attend unit training assemblies which are scheduled for one weekend each month, plus serve 15 days active duty each year to fulfill their reserve commitment. Since reserve pilots are required to maintain the same degree of readiness as their active duty counterparts, flying activities are scheduled Tuesday through Saturday of each week throughout the year.
The 301st Fighter Wing Commander is Colonel Benjamin R. Harrison.[3]
The unit's origins begin during World War II, when it was part of Twentieth Air Force. The 301st Fighter Wing's P-47N aircraft flew very long range (VLR) escort missions of B-29 Superfortress bombardment groups against Japan.
World War II
Three-aircraft formation of Republic P-47N Thunderbolts
The 301st Fighter Wing was organized in the United States under First Air Force, initially at Seymour Johnson Field, North Carolina in October 1944, then moved to Mitchel Field on Long Island in November. On Long Island, the wing coordinated the delivery of the very long range Republic P-47N Thunderbolt from its manufacturing plant at Farmingdale, New York, with aircraft being flown to North Carolina where two of the newly assigned groups of the 301st (413th and 414th) were training.
The war in the Pacific required fighter ranges even greater than did operations over Germany, and the mission of the 301st Fighter Wing was to provide bomber escort for Twentieth Air ForceBoeing B-29 Superfortress bombers during their strategic bombing missions over Japan in 1945.
Soon after Saipan and Guam were taken with B-29 units being stationed there, the 318th Group formed on the Ryukyu Islands, consisting of six fighter groups, the 15th and 21st (being transferred from Seventh Air Force) and the 413th, 414th, 506th and 507th, all being deployed from the United States. Being the first wing to be equipped with the P-47N, the groups operated as a long-range escort for B-29 Superfortress bombers attacking the Japanese mainland all the way from Saipan to Japan and on many other long, overwater flights.
In July 1945 the 301st was reassigned to the Eighth Air Force with the same mission for Eighth Air Force in the planned Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. The atomic bombings of Japan led to the Japanese surrender before Eighth Air Force saw action in the Pacific theater.
The wing was reassigned to Far East Air Forces when Eighth Air Force returned to the United States in 1946. Its four wartime fighter groups returned to the United States early in 1946, being replaced by the 51st Fighter Group as its operational unit. It served as part of the Army of Occupation on Okinawa. The wing performed air defense role over the Ryukyu Islands. After 18 August 1948, the wing had no units assigned and existed as a paper unit until inactivated on 20 January 1949.
The 301st was reactivated in July 1972 as the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas in the United States Air Force Reserve. Upon reactivation the wing was assigned the Republic F-105 Thunderchief, with the Carswell-based 457th Fighter Squadron using specially modified version of the F-105D called the "Thunderstick II". The 301st Fighter Wing led the way for Air Force Reserve fighter units in deploying to overseas bases for NATO exercises when it deployed to Norvenich Air Base, Germany, in August 1977 and Gioia del Colle Air Base, Italy, in May 1979.
In 1981, the wing converted to the McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II. Subsequent overseas deployments by the 301st Fighter Wing included Cigli Air Base, Turkey, in October 1982. A deployment to Sivrihisar Air Base, Turkey, in May 1985 was an AFRES first when they operated under bare base conditions. The unit also deployed to Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. In 1987 the unit began swapping to the newer F-4E Phantom II. During Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, many wing people were recalled to active duty and served at various locations throughout the United States, Germany, England, and Southwest Asia.
In April 1991, the wing converted to the F-16C/D, "Fighting Falcon".
Post Cold War
In December 1993, the wing deployed six F-16s, (along with six from the 944th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona), and approximately 350 wing people to Aviano Air Base, Italy, in support of United Nations Operation Deny Flight mission. Due to the wing converting from the F-4 to the F-16 fighter aircraft during Desert Shield/Storm, this voluntary deployment to Aviano AB was the first non-exercise operational aviation deployment since flying fighters out of Carswell in 1972. Due to achieving the highest rating possible from the May 1994 Operational Readiness Inspection and supporting the Deny Flight mission, the 301st Fighter Wing was awarded as an Air Force outstanding unit for the period May 1992 to May 1994.
In May and June 1997, the wing deployed to Karup Air Base, Denmark. The wing joined forces with three U.S. Air Force units and foreign air forces in two separate exercises while in Denmark. The first was the command and control Exercise Central Enterprise. The second exercise was called BALTOPS (Baltic Operations).
Elements of the 301st Fighter Wing deployed in October 2001 to the Middle East as part of a regularly scheduled Air Expeditionary Force rotation to enforce the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. While there, the reservists also began flying combat missions as part of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. Throughout the 90-day deployment, the reservists flew between nine and 15 hours a day.
On August 14, 2024, the wing received the first of four Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs loaned to them by the 388th Fighter Wing to begin operations with the new fighter. A total of 26 Lightning IIs will eventually be assigned to the unit. The 301st will be the only Air Force Reserve Command unit to operate the fifth-generation fighter without being associated to an active unit and the second Air Force Reserve F-35 unit. F-35A deliveries to the wing are expected until 2026.[5] The wing accepted its first "own" F-35 on 5 November 2024.[6]
Lineage
Constituted as the 301st Fighter Wing on 5 October 1944
Activated on 15 October 1944
Inactivated on 20 January 1949
Redesignated 301st Tactical Fighter Wing on 19 May 1972
Activated in the Reserve on 1 July 1972
Redesignated 301st Fighter Wing on 1 February 1992[2]
Naha Airfield, Okinawa, 14 August 1947 – 20 January 1949
Carswell Air Force Base (later Carswell Air Reserve Base, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth), 1 July 1972 – present[2]
References
Notes
^Aircraft are General Dynamics Block 30A F-16Cs, serials 85-1449, 85–1467, 85–1458 and 85-1472.
^Aircraft is Republic F-105D-10-RE Thunderchief 60-0471 modified to the "Thunderstick II" configuration, May 1981. The multiple color tail stripe indicates this is the Wing Commander's aircraft. This aircraft was sent to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center on 13 November 1981. Today, the aircraft is waiting restoration at the Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California.
^Aircraft is McDonnell Douglas F-4E-38-MC Phantom 68-366 about 1985. Upon its retirement in May 1990, this aircraft was first sent to Sheppard Air Force Base as a GF-4E ground maintenance trainer, then placed on static display at the Commemorative Air Force Museum at Midland, Texas as part of their Vietnam Memorial.
^Robertson, Patsy (2 December 2010). "Factsheet 15 Wing (PACAF)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Archived from the original on 22 April 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
Endicott, Judy G. (1999) Active Air Force wings as of 1 October 1995; USAF active flying, space, and missile squadrons as of 1 October 1995. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. CD-ROM.
Martin, Patrick (1994). Tail Code: The Complete History of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings. Schiffer Military Aviation History. ISBN0-88740-513-4.
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