page_title: 81st Training Wing
section_title: United States Air Forces in Europe
hierarchical_section_title: 81st Training Wing / History / United States Air Forces in Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: 78th Fighter-Bomber Squadron - North American F-86F-25-NH Sabre - 51-13234
context_page_description: The 81st Training Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force and the host wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. The 81st Training Wing has the Air Force's largest Technical Training Group and trains more than 40,000 students annually. Training includes weather, basic electronics, communications electronic systems, communications computer systems, air traffic control, airfield management, command post, air weapons control, precision measurement, education and training, financial management and comptroller, information management, manpower and personnel, radar, ground radio, and network control.
context_section_description: After fourteen months at now redesignated Larson Air Force Base, the 81st received movement orders to deploy to England.  On 1 August 1951, the 81st flew initially into RAF Shepherds Grove, when in September transferred its headquarters to RAF Bentwaters, where the wing would be stationed for the next 40 years as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).  The 81st Fighter-Bomber Group was inactivated on 16 June 1952 when the group was considered redundant as part of the Air Force tri-deputate reorganization.
  The 81st was the first Sabre Jet unit to be based in Europe, and the first to form an integral part of the peacetime air defense of Great Britain. In this role, the wing came under the operational control of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command No. 11 Group during the actual defense of the United Kingdom, and for combined operational training. Under USAFE, the 81st came under the control of Third Air Force which coordinated its activities with the RAF. Although the pilots had a relatively short time to acquaint themselves with RAF techniques and procedures and the methods of fighter control, the unit made and excellent showing.
  In November 1952 when the 116th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was inactivated and returned to Washington state control, it was replaced by the 78th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which assumed its mission, personnel and equipment.  The 78th moved to RAF Sculthorpe in May 1956. The 78th briefly returned to Shepherds Grove in May 1957 before being reassigned to RAF Woodbridge in December 1958 when the USAF turned Shepherds Grove to the British Ministry of Defence.
  In October 1954 the mission of the 81st changed from fighter-interceptor to fighter-bomber operations, carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. The wing was charged with tactical operations in support of USAFE and NATO, with air defense as a secondary mission.  To reflect this change, the unit was redesignated the 81st Fighter-Bomber Wing and traded in its North American F-86 Sabres for the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak.
  On 8 July 1958 Bentwaters was operated as "twin base" with RAF Woodbridge and as a single unit under the newly designated 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. Along with the 91st and 92d Tactical Fighter Squadrons, the 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron was transferred from RAF Shepherds Grove when the USAF returned Shepherds Grove to the Ministry of Defense.   The 78th TFS operated from Woodbrige, while the 91st and 92d squadrons operated from Bentwaters.
  Beginning in the fall of 1958, the 81st TFW was reequipped with the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo.  The F-101 was configured as a fighter bomber, intended to carry a single nuclear weapon for use against battlefield targets such as airfields.  The Voodos were equipped with Low Angle Drogued Delivery and Low Altitude Bombing System equipment for its primary mission of delivering nuclear weapons at extremely low altitudes. Pilots were trained for one-way missions into Soviet territory to increase effective range at some cost in negating pilot recovery.
  In November 1965, the 81st received McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs to replace the Voodoos.  Initially receiving the F-4C this was later upgraded to the more capable F-4D during late 1972 and 1973.
  The 81st began conversion to the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II in June 1979.  The A-10 being a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets.  With the A-10, the wing's mission changed to close air support and battlefield air interdiction in support of NATO ground forces.
  This arrangement continued until June 1988 when the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at RAF Alconbury became a Tactical Fighter Wing, and two of the 81st TFW squadrons, the 509th and 511th Tactical Fighter Squadrons were transferred there on 1 June and 1 September, respectively.  With the transfer of the A-10s to Alconbury, the 527th Aggressor Squadron was transferred to Bentwaters.  The mission of the 527th was to provide dissimilar air combat
caption: 78th FBS North American F-86F Sabre - 51-13234
exif: {"Image Make": "HP", "Image Model": "HP ojp7700", "Image XResolution": "200", "Image YResolution": "200", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12.01", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:21 08:21:08", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "274", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "200", "Thumbnail YResolution": "200", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1112", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4979", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:06:21 08:07:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1218", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "743", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "\u0002\u0002\u0002\u0002", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[3, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "970", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 19, 0, 32, 32, 32, 48, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 55, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 56, ... ]"}