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100th Fighter Squadron | |
|---|---|
 SquadronF-35A Lightning II during its unveiling ceremony | |
| Active | 1942–1945; 1947–1949; 1953; 1954–1966; 1989–1993; 1999–2007; 2007–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Allegiance |  Alabama |
| Branch |  Air National Guard |
| Type | Squadron |
| Role | Fighter |
| Part of | Alabama Air National Guard |
| Garrison/HQ | Dannelly Field, Alabama |
| Nickname | Red Tails |
| Mottos | Servemus in Universum (Latin for 'Let Us Serve the World') (100 Air Refueling Squadron); Red Tails... We Deliver[citation needed] |
| Engagements | Mediterranean Theater of Operations[1] |
| Decorations | Distinguished Unit Citation[1] |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Capt. Jonathan “Blue” Gill[citation needed] |
| Insignia | |
| 100th Fighter Squadron emblem[a][1] |  |
| Patch with 100th Air Refueling Squadron emblem |  |
| Tail code | AL |
The100th Fighter Squadron is a unit of theAlabama Air National Guard187th Fighter Wing located atDannelly Field, Alabama. The 100th is equipped with theLockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II.
Thesquadron was one of theTuskegee Airmen squadrons duringWorld War II, one of the famous all-black squadrons of the332d Fighter Group, activated on 19 February 1942 atTuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama. It was returned to duty in 2007 as a replacement of the160th Fighter Squadron so the state could honor the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Established in February 1942 atTuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama to train African-American flight cadets graduated from theTuskegee Institute Army contract flying school. At Tuskegee, the squadron performed advanced combat flying training. As the number of graduated from the Tuskegee school grew, two additional squadrons the301st and302nd Fighter Squadrons were activated at Tuskegee Army Air Field, forming the332nd Fighter Group.
Due to the segregated status of the Army Air Forces in 1942 and the reluctance by the service to deploy African Americans into combat, the 332nd remained in an extended training status. The Group was transferred toSelfridge Field, near Detroit, Michigan in March 1943 after the decision was reached to deploy the unit. Racial tensions in the Detroit area, however, forced a move toOscoda Army Air Field, in isolated northeast Michigan the next month where the final training of the unit was performed by First Air Force. However, the unit was delayed again going into combat, and also was sent back to Selfridge upon completion of training at Oscoda to performAir defense flights over the Detroit area beginning in July 1943.
For six months, the unit remained at Selfridge until pressure on the Army led to the decision to deploy the 100th to theFifteenth Air Force in Italy at the end of 1943, under the command ofRobert B. Tresville, to support the strategic aerial bombardment campaign being carried out byBoeing B-17 Flying Fortress andConsolidated B-24 Liberator Heavy bombers from newly established air bases in theFoggia, Italy area.
As theItalian Campaign pushed further north into Italy during 1944, the squadron moved to operate from forward captured air bases, flying bomber escort missions initially withRepublic P-47 Thunderbolts, then being upgraded to the long-rangeNorth American P-51D Mustang fighter. In combat, the unit engaged enemy forces in the Rome-Arno area, then during theD-Day landings in France, took part in the Normandy and Northern France campaigns. It returned to the MTO in August 1944, flying combat missions supportingOperation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, and attacking enemy targets in Northern Italy, Po Valley, the German Rhineland and theWestern Allied invasion of Germany during March and April 1945.
With the end of the War in Europe in May 1945, the squadron was returned to Southern Italy, being stationed atLucera Airfield, near Foggia where the unit slowly was demobilized and personnel returned to the United States. The 100th Fighter Squadron was inactivated atCamp Kilmer, New Jersey in mid-October 1945.
The 332nd was reactivated as part ofTactical Air CommandNinth Air Force atLockbourne Army Air Base (Later Lockbourne Air Force Base), nearColumbus, Ohio in July 1947, again as a segregated African-American unit of the Army Air Forces (laterUnited States Air Force). At Lockbourne, the Wing was equipped with newF-47N Thunderbolts that were designed for very-long range flights in the Pacific Theater to attack ground targets in theJapanese Home Islands. However, the aircraft were never deployed due to the sudden end of the War in August 1945. At Lockbourne, the squadron participated in firepower demonstrations, gunnery training, and operational missions to maintain combat proficiency. The African-American segregated unit was inactivated in July 1949 as a result of PresidentHarry S. Truman'sExecutive Order 9981. EO 9981 abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces. The 100th's personnel and equipment were reassigned to other units.
The100th Air Refueling Squadron was activated byStrategic Air Command (SAC) in 1953, and equipped withBoeing KB-29 Superfortress tankers, based atRobins Air Force Base, nearWarner Robins, Georgia. The squadron primarily performedair refueling of SAC'sBoeing B-50 Superfortress medium bombers using a primitive "looped hose" refueling system. In 1954, the squadron moved toPease Air Force Base, New Hampshire; receivedBoeing KC-97 Stratofreighters and performed air refueling with SAC'sBoeing B-47 Stratojet units, deploying frequently to England and Morocco to operate fromOperation Reflex bases to refuel SAC bombers prior to their planned flights into Communist-controlled Eastern Europe and theSoviet Union. The 100th Air Refueling Squadron continued to operate from Pease until the end of the B-47 and Reflex era in 1966, at which point the unit was inactivated.
In 1985, the 100th Fighter Squadron and 100th Air Refueling Squadron were consolidated into a single unit.Air Training Command reactivated the consolidated unit 100th as the100th Flying Training Squadron atWilliams Air Force Base, Phoenix, Arizona in September 1989 to demonstrate the feasibility of Air Training Command's plan for five flying training squadrons at each pilot training base. Its instructor pilots provided incoming pilots qualification inCessna T-37 Tweet andnorthrop T-38 Talon aircraft, and as instructor pilots. The squadron was inactivated as part of the post-Cold War drawdown of the Air Force in 1993.
The 100th was again reactivated as a flying training squadron atRandolph Air Force Base, Texas, equipped withBeechcraft T-6 Texan II,Raytheon T-1 Jayhawk and Northrop T-38C Talon trainers. It provided flight training to new air force pilot trainees throughout the early 21st century.
In 2007, the Alabama legislature requested theNational Guard Bureau to allow theAlabama Air National Guard to replace its160th Fighter Squadron with the100th Fighter Squadron so the state could honor the legacy of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. This was obtained from the Air Force and on 12 September 2009, the 100th Flying Training Squadron was inactivated. The designation was transferred to the National Guard Bureau by the Air Force and it was allotted to the Alabama ANG. As a result, the 160th Fighter Squadron was inactivated, and the new 100th Fighter Squadron assumed its personnel, equipment and aircraft. The 160th Fighter Squadron stood down in a ceremony atMontgomery Air National Guard Base, on 13 September 2007, with the 100th Fighter Squadron standing up.
From the onset the squadron started training on the block 30 version of theGeneral Dynamics F-16C/D Fighting Falcon that carried over from the 160th. The squadron flies the F-16 in a traditional air defense and conventional attack role.
In August 2009, the 100th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed 240 airmen and aircraft toBalad Air Base, Iraq as part of the 332nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron supportingOperation Iraq Freedom. This was the first deployment of the 100th FS to the middle east and over 2,000 hours were flown and Precision Guided Munitions were employed. The unit returned to Montgomery in November 2009.
The squadron deployed to Romania in August 2012 to participate in Dacian Viper 2012, a three-week joint exercise with theRomanian Air Force. The Alabama ANG contingent, which included nearly twenty fighter pilots and eight F-16s, exercised with approximately 200 Romanian soldiers, technical staff, and pilots flying sixMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Lancer fighters at71st Air Base, located near the town ofCâmpia Turzii in the northwestern part of Romania.[2] The squadron returned to Romania in 2015, taking part in combined air operations during the Dacian Viper 2015 exercise.[3]
In December 2017, the Air Force announced that the 100th was one of two Air National Guard squadrons selected for equipping with theLockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The conversion to thefifth-generation jet fighter is scheduled for 2023.[4] On 21 April, the squadron retired its F-16 fighters and will continue its conversion process to the F-35 which arrived in December. Full operational readiness is to be achieved until February 2026.[5][6] The first three F-35As (18-5414,18-5420 and20-5628) were delivered to the 100th FS on 6 December 2023.[7]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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