page_title: 421st Fighter Squadron
section_title: Modern era
hierarchical_section_title: 421st Fighter Squadron / History / Modern era
caption_attribution_description: English: 421st Fighter Squadron General Dynamics F-16C Block 40C Fighting Falcon 88-0452
context_page_description: The 421st Fighter Squadron is part of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. It operates the Lockheed Martin F-35A aircraft conducting air superiority missions. The squadron is one of the most decorated fighter squadrons in the United States Air Force, being awarded three Presidential Unit Citations and seven Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards for Valor in Combat.
  The unit was originally formed as the 421st Night Fighter Squadron in 1943. After training, it was deployed to Fifth Air Force and ordered to New Guinea to provide air defense interceptor protection against Japanese night air raids on USAAF airfields. It later served in the Philippines Campaign where in addition to night interceptor missions it also flew day and night interdiction missions against enemy troop movements, bridges and other targets of opportunity. It later served on Okinawa and in Occupied Japan where it was inactivated in 1947.
  It was reactivated by Tactical Air Command in 1962 as the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron. Equipped with Republic F-105 Thunderchiefs, it deployed to Southeast Asia and engaged in combat operations over North Vietnam.
context_section_description: On 30 August 1990, the squadron deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  On 20 March 1991, the 421st redeployed to its home at Hill Air Force Base after distinguishing itself by flying 1,300 combat sorties (1,200 at night) without any losses or battle damage.  Since then, the 421st FS has deployed around the world in support of various operations, including Operations Southern Watch, Northern Watch, and Noble Eagle.
  In August 2002, the 421st transferred all its maintenance personnel to the 388th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as part of the wing reorganization.  The 421st deployed with 388th Squadron's 421st Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, to support Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom from May to September 2003.
  The 421st and AMU became the first-ever active duty F-16 squadron to deploy to Balad Air Base, Iraq, however the 107th Fighter Squadron of the Michigan Air National Guard from Selfridge ANG Base Michigan was the first F-16 squadron to fly out Iraq in 2003. The 421st was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2004 to January 2005.  The squadron flew over 1,300 sorties during its first deployment to Iraq.  The squadron then returned to Balad Air Base from May to September 2006 flying 1,400 sorties and 6,400 hours.
  On 22 June 2009 a single-seat F-16 from the squadron on a training mission, a nighttime high-angle strafing run, crashed in the Utah Test and Training Range.  The pilot, Captain George Bryan Houghton, 28, was killed. A USAF mishap investigation concluded that the cause of the crash was pilot error, finding that Houghton's inexperience and apparent disorientation during the strafing run caused him to fly the aircraft into the ground.
caption: 421st Fighter Squadron F-16C Block 40C[note 5]
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