page_title: Shaw Air Force Base
section_title: 20th Fighter Group
hierarchical_section_title: Shaw Air Force Base / History / United States Air Force / 20th Fighter Group
caption_attribution_description: English: 363th Recon Group P-51D Mustangs November 1946 Shaw Field SC Serials identified are 45-11665 45-11689 44-84855, location may not be shaw Field, building placement does not line up with layout of flt line (photo was marked as 20 FG but the P-51 used PF Not FC. FC was used by the F-5 the recon version of the P-51. Also the 363 used the checkerboard as their tail markings.
context_page_description: Shaw Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 8.4 miles west-northwest of downtown Sumter, South Carolina. It is one of the largest military bases operated by the United States, and is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command. The United States Air Force 20th Fighter Wing is the host unit.
context_section_description: Jurisdiction of Shaw was again transferred to Tactical Air Command on 23 March 1946. The 20th Fighter Group was reassigned to Shaw on 20 October 1946 from Biggs Army Airfield, Texas which was transferred to Strategic Air Command.  The 20th FG came under Ninth Air Force.
  After the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate military branch in September 1947, Shaw Army Airfield was renamed Shaw Air Force Base, on 13 January 1948 and the 20th Fighter-Bomber Wing was activated on 15 August 1947 with the implementation of the Hobson Plan.
  The 20th Fighter Group was first equipped with North American P-51D, then exchanged its P-51's in February 1948 for F-84B Thunderjets, the first TAC group to receive operational F-84s. The group was composed of the 55th, 77th and 79th Fighter Squadrons. The F-84s began arriving in February 1948 and ran through May when the full complement was received. Nine were lost in accidents before the remainder were returned to Republic Aircraft in May 1949 in exchange for F-84D models.  Control over the wing changed hands on 1 February 1949 with its assignment to Fourteenth Air Force.
  On 23 September 1949 the 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was transferred to the 20th from the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Langley AFB Virginia. The 161st flew the Lockheed RF-80A reconnaissance version of the F-80 Shooting Star.  A reduction in Air Force units in April 1949 led to a consolidation of units at fewer bases.  With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the mission of the 161st was to train replacement reconnaissance aircraft pilots. The 161st TFS became the nucleus on which the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing's mission at Shaw when the wing transferred there in 1951.
  The 20th Fighter Group was reassigned to Langley AFB, Virginia on 1 December 1951 in preparation for a permanent overseas deployment to RAF Wethersfield, England to support NATO.
caption: 20th Fighter Group P-51D Mustangs parked at Shaw Field, November 1946.  Serials identified are serials: 45-11665, 45-11689, and 44-84855. Note the postwar "buzz number" on the fuselage along with the AAF Wartime fuselage marking and checkered wartime paint at the cowling and tail.
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