| 20th Fighter Wing | ||
| The 20th Fighter Wing’s mission is to provide, project and sustain combat-ready air forces...Any challenge. Anytime. Anywhere. The wing operates the 55th, 77th, and 79th Fighter Squadrons. The 20th, as the host wing, also retains the responsibility for providing facilities, personnel and material for the operation of Shaw. The wing staff includes: inspector general, command post, judge advocate, safety, public affairs, historian, comptroller, manpower and organization, military equal opportunity office and the chapel program. | ||
| Wing Emblem | ||
| The wing emblem is a shield bearing the colors of the wing—blue, gold and red. The partition line of the fess is nebula, the heraldic symbol for clouds. It is still in its original form, first seen in October, 1951. The motto inscribed in the scroll is Victory By Valor. |  |
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| Shaw History | ||
| Construction began at Shaw Field on June 27, 1941. Lt. Col Burton M. Covey Jr. became the first base commander on Aug. 30, 1941. The base was named in honor of 2nd Lt. Erwin David Shaw, one of the first Americans to fly combat missions in World War I. Shaw, a Sumter County native, died after three enemy | ||
| aircraft attacked his Bristol while he was returning from a reconnaissance mission. He downed one of his attackers before he perished. | ||
| As one of the largest flying fields in the United States, Shaw Field’s first task was to train cadets to fly. The first group of cadets entered training Dec. 15, 1941, and the last basic class graduated March 9, 1945. The basic flying school at Shaw Field had trained more than 8,600 service members to fly in AT-6s and AT-10s. When the mission changed, P-47 Thunderbolts arrived to replace the basic trainers, and pilots began coming to Shaw for fighter transition training until the end of the war. | ||
| For a brief time, Shaw Field also served as a prisoner-of-war camp. The first group of German POWs arrived on March 1, 1945. Eventually, 175 of them lived in an encampment near Shaw Field’s main entrance and worked on local farms. They departed in the early months of 1946. | ||
| Following World War II, the 20th Fighter-Bomber Group arrived at Shaw Field with its P-51 Mustang fighters. The unit later swapped its Mustangs for Shaw’s first jet aircraft, the P-84 Thunderjet. The name of the installation changed to Shaw Air Force Base on Jan. 13, 1948. By that time, the 20th Fighter Wing was the host organization. | ||
| The 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing transferred from Langley AFB, Va., on April 1, 1951, and doubled the activity at Shaw AFB. By November, however, the 20th Fighter-Bomber Wing transferred to Langley AFB and the 363rd became the parent wing at Shaw. Headquarters 9th Air Force arrived at Shaw from Pope AFB, N.C., Sept. 1, 1954. | ||
| Along with the jet age came the opportunity for the pilots of the 363rd to set a new world speed record. On Nov. 27, 1957, four RF-101 Voodoos assigned to Shaw lifted off the runway from Ontario County Airport in California. The planes headed for New York and a place in history. The flight, known as Operation Sun Run, successfully broke the transcontinental flight record. The trip took three hours and seven minutes at a record speed of 781.74 mph. | ||
| In the autumn of 1962, the pilots of the 363rd played a major part in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Utilizing their RF-101s for low-altitude photoreconnaissance missions, they helped identify and track activities at Cuban missile sites, airfields, and port facilities. In awarding the wing the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its achievements, President John F. Kennedy said, “You gentlemen have contributed as much to the security of the United States as any group of men in our history.” | ||
| The first RF-4C Phantom II aircraft arrived at Shaw AFB in 1965, and shortly after, the 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron became the first combat ready RF-4C squadron in the Air Force. On Oct. 1, 1981, the 363rd TRW was redesignated the 363rd Tactical Fighter Wing. The wing received its first F-16 Fighting Falcon March 26, 1982. | ||
| The 1990s will forever be remembered as the decade of the conflict that revolutionized modern warfare. Within a week of Iraq’s Aug. 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait, the 363rd deployed the first F-16s to the Persian Gulf. During the first few critical weeks of Operation Desert Shield, the men and women of the 363rd were the only Air Force unit capable of stopping the Iraqi ground forces from rolling into Saudi Arabia. | ||
| In the weeks that followed, more than 2,500 people and more than 3,300 air tons of equipment deployed from Shaw to the Persian Gulf. When Operation Desert Storm began, the 363rd delivered massive air strikes against the Iraqi military industrial complex. | ||
| The 19th and 33rd Tactical Fighter Squadrons subsequently deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch, a coalition effort to enforce the no-fly zone south of the 32nd parallel in Iraq. The 33rd TFS (inactivated July 1993) made history when one of its pilots downed an Iraqi aircraft with an AIM-120 missile. The incident marked the first combat use of an AIM-120 and was the first U.S. F-16 air-to-air kill. | ||
| In the aftermath of the Gulf War, the Air Force has undergone several dramatic changes. Not only were Tactical Air Command, Military Airlift Command and the Strategic Air Command reformed into two commands, Air Mobility Command and Air Combat Command, and the Air Force downsized, but with the restructuring also came inactivation and redesignation of wings and their units. The 363rd FW and its squadrons—17th, 19th, 21st and 309th Fighter Squadrons—were inactivated Jan. 1, 1994. The same day, the 20th Fighter Wing returned to Shaw AFB after having spent more than 40 years in the United Kingdom. Its subordinate units from Royal Air Force Upper Heyford, England, including the 55th, 77th and 79th Fighter Squadrons, also activated at Shaw on that date after having been inactive for a brief period. The 78th Fighter Squadron activated on that day to join the wing, after having last been assigned to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Bentwaters, UK. | ||
| The squadron was inactivated once again on June 30, 2003, as part of the Air Force’s FY 2003 force structure changes, leaving Shaw with three F-16CJ squadrons. | ||
| The 20th provided forces in April 1999 for North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Operation Allied Force in the European theater. A Shaw pilot deployed to Aviano Air Base, Italy, during the conflict shot down an enemy MiG-29. For 10 years, the 20th FW and its F-16CJ squadrons flew contingency rotations in support of Operations Northern and Southern Watch. The wing also flew combat air patrols in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In February 2003, Shaw deployed approximately 1,300 servicemembers and 15 aircraft in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operations Northern and Southern Watch successfully culminated with the advent of hostilities in Iraq. | ||
Shaw AFB is home to the Air Force’s largest combat F-16 wing. The primary missions are the suppression of enemy air defenses and destruction of enemy air defenses. |
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| F-16CJ Fighting Falcon | ||
| The F-16CJ is a single-seat, multi-mission fighter with the ability to switch from an air-to-ground to air-to-air role at the touch of a button. With its lightweight airframe and powerful General Electric engine generating 31,000 pounds of thrust, the F-16CJ can fly at speeds in excess of Mach 2. Carrying up to 15,000 pounds of munitions, the F-16CJ is ready for any contingency, whether it be through the launching of its AIM-120 radar-guided missiles, AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missile, AIM-9 heat-seeking missiles, the many available air-to-ground ordnances, or the 20mm cannon capable of firing 100 projectiles per second. | ||
| Base Information: (803) 895-1110 / DSN 965-1110 Information provided by: 20th Public Affairs Office Notice of Consent Please read this Privacy and Security Notice |
Last Reviewed: 18 Nov 2005 Shaw Webmaster DSN 965-2775 Comm: (803) 895-2775 |