Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size
Login

Military Photos



52d Fighter Wing

(933 total words in this text)
(3283 Reads)  Printer-friendly page
Lineage

Established as 52d Fighter Wing, All Weather, on 10 May 1948. Activated on 9 Jun 1948. Redesignated: 52d Fighter-All Weather Wing on 20 Jan 1950; 52d Fighter-Interceptor Wing on 1 May 1951. Inactivated on 6 Feb 1952. Redesignated 52d Fighter Wing (Air Defense), and activated, on 11 Apr 1963. Organized on 1 Jul 1963. Inactivated on 30 Sep 1968. Redesignated 52d Tactical Fighter Wing on 12 Nov 1971. Activated on 31 Dec 1971. Redesignated 52d Fighter Wing on 1 Oct 1991.

Assignments

First Air Force, 9 Jun 1948 (attached to Eastern Air Defense Force, 10 Nov 1949?31 Aug 1950); Eastern Air Defense Force, 1 Sep 1950?6 Feb 1952. Air Defense Command, 11 Apr 1963; New York Air Defense Sector, 1 Jul 1963; 21st Air Division, 1 Apr 1966; 35th Air Division, 1 Dec 1967?30 Sep 1968. Seventeenth Air Force, 31 Dec 1971; 65th Air Division, 1 Jun 1985; Seventeenth Air Force, 30 Jun 1991?.

Components

Wing. 84th: attached 1 Jun 1942?2 Jun 1951.

Group. 52d Fighter (later, 52d Operations): 9 Jun 1948?6 Feb 1952; 31 Mar 1992?.

Squadrons. 2d Fighter-Interceptor: 1 Jul 1963?30 Sep 1968. 23d: 31 Dec 1971?31 Mar 1992 (detached 17 Jan?15 Mar 1991). 39th Tactical Electronic Warfare: 31 Dec 1971?1 Jan 1973. 58th: attached 8?22 Aug 1975. 81st: 15 Jan 1973?31 Mar 1992. 98th Fighter-Interceptor: 1 Jul 1963?30 Sep 1968. 105th: attached 1 Apr 1951?6 Feb 1952. 334th: attached 9?23 Sep 1975. 335th: attached 11?25 Jul 1975. 356th: attached 29 Aug?20 Sep 1976. 457th: attached 13?27 Aug 1977. 480th: 15 Nov 1976?31 Mar 1992. 562d: attached 12?30 Aug 1977.

Detachments. Det, 561st Tactical Fighter Squadron: attached 30 Aug? 20 Sep 1976.

Stations

Mitchel Field (later, AFB) NY, 9 Jun 1948; McGuire AFB, NJ, 4 Oct 1949? 6 Feb 1952. Suffolk County AFB, NY, 1 Jul 1963?30 Sep 1968. Spangdahlem AB, Germany, 31 Dec 1971?.

Commanders

Col Roger V. Williams, 9 Jun 1948; Col Thomas C. Musgrave, Jr., 28 Jun 1948; Col Robert W. C. Wimmsatt, 1 Jul 1949; Col Edward C. Tates, 26 Sep 1949; Col Ernest H. Beverly, 16 Jul 1950; Col Edward W. Szaniawski, 4 Dec 1951; Lt Col LeRoy D. Hoerner, 1?6 Feb 1952. None (not manned), 11 Apr? 30 Jun 1963; Col James H. Buckey, 1 Jul 1963; Col Ben H. Emmert, Jr., 1 Jul 1964; Col Francis S. Gabreski, 17 Aug 1964; Col Jack D. Gamble, 31 Oct 1967?30 Sep 1968. Col Thomas E. Clifford, 31 Dec 1971; Col James H. Ahmann, 16 Jul 1973; Col Robert F.C. Winger, 9 Nov 1973; Col Robert E. Buhrow, 7 Jul 1975; Col Richard E. Skelton, 10 Jun 1977; Col Charles L. Flynn, 16 Nov 1977; Col Leland K. Lukens, 9 Jun 1978; Brig Gen Robert B. Plowden, Jr., 15 Feb 1980; Col Paul N. Chase, 6 Feb 1981; Col Donald L.Kaufman, 7 Dec 1982; Col Lawrence E. Day, 17 Apr 1985; Col Jay D. Blume, Jr., 4 Jun 1987; Col Eugene D. Santarelli, 31 May 1988; Col Rudolf F. Peksens, 6 Jul 1989; Col Howard J. Fry, Jr., 10 Jul 1991; Brig Gen John W. Hawley, 17 Jul 1992; Col Michael S. Brake, 18 Aug 1992; Brig Gen John W. Hawley, 23 Jan 1993?.

Aircraft

P (later, F)?61, 1947?1948; F?82, 1948?1952; F?94, 1950?1952; F?47, 1951?1952. F?101, 1963?1968. EB?66, 1971?1972; F?4, 1971?; EB?57, 1974, 1975; A?7, 1976; F?105, 1976, 1977; F?16, 1987?; A/OA?10, 1992?.

Operations

Air defense in the northeastern United States, Jun 1948?Feb 1952, and Jul 1963?Sep 1968. In Dec 1971 became host wing at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, and inherited tactical squadrons from 36th TFW at nearby Bitburg AB. Participated in numerous tactical exercises, operations, and tests of USAFE and NATO. Provided close air support, interdiction, and base defense operations. Cooperated with other NATO forces in frequent "squadron exchange" programs and hosted US-based units on temporary duty in Europe. In Jan 1973 added Wild Weasel defense suppression mission, and after Oct 1985, using the F?4 model aircraft, defense suppression became wing?s sole tactical mission. In 1987 acquired F?16s and became the first wing to integrate F?16Cs with F?4Gs to form hunter/killer teams within individual fighter squadrons. Deployed aircraft and personnel to strategic locations in Saudi Arabia and Turkey in support of the liberation of Kuwait, Sep 1990?Mar 1993. Began receiving A/OA?10 aircraft near the end of 1992 and with the assignment of the 510th Tactical Fighter Squadron, in Oct 1992, added a close air support mission.

Honors

Service Streamers. None.

Campaign Streamers. Southwest Asia: Defense of Saudi Arabia; Liberation and Defense of Kuwait.

Armed Forces Expeditionary Streamers. None.

Decorations. Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device: 1 Sep 1990? 26 Feb 1991. Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 1 Jul 1978?30 Jun 1980; 1 Jul 1991?30 Jun 1993.

Bestowed Honors. Authorized to display honors earned by the 52d Operations Group prior to 9 Jun 1948.

Service Streamers. None.

Campaign Streamers. World War II: Air Offensive, Europe; Algeria-French Morocco; Tunisia; Sicily; Naples-Foggia; Rome-Arno; Normandy; Northern France; Southern France; North Apennines; Rhineland; Central Europe; Po Valley; Air Combat, EAME Theater.

Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citations: Germany, 9 Jun 1944; Rumania, 31 Aug 1944.

Emblem

Quarterly per fess nebuly first and fourth Argent each charged with a dagger palewise point to base Gules grip Or: Second quarter Azure third quarter Sable all within a diminished bordure Yellow. Motto: SEEK, ATTACK, DESTROY. Approved for 52d Group on 11 Jan 1951 and for 52d Wing on 10 May 1951 (K 6370).

Military History
Forum Posts

Military Polls

Is the U.S. media presenting balanced coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[ Results | Polls ]

Votes: 489

This Day in History
1738: English parliament declares war on Spain.

1800: The USS Essex becomes first U.S. Navy vessel to pass the Cape of Good Hope.

1814: The HMS Phoebe and Cherub capture the USS Essex off Valparaiso, Chile.

1854: Britain and France declare war on Russia.

1862: Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory when they turn the Rebels back at Glorieta Pass.

1864: A group of Copperheads attack Federal soldiers in Charleston, Illinois. Five are killed and twenty wounded.

1917: The Womens Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is founded, Great Britains first official service women.

1939: The Spanish Civil War ends as Madrid falls to Francisco Franco.

1941: Andrew Browne Cunningham, Admiral of the British Fleet, commands the British Royal Navys destruction of three major Italian battleships and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean.

1942: A British ship, the HMS Capbeltown, a Lend-Lease American destroyer, which was specifically rammed into a German occupied dry-dock in France, explodes, knocking the area out of action for the German battleship Tirpitz.