page_title: 120th Fighter Squadron
section_title: Tactical Air Command/Vietnam War
hierarchical_section_title: 120th Fighter Squadron / History / Colorado Air National Guard / Tactical Air Command/Vietnam War
caption_attribution_description: English: 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron A-7D 71-341 1972: Aircraft delivered to 23d Tactical Fighter Wing, England AFB, LA (c/n D-341) Transferred to 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, CO Air National Guard, 1977 to AMARC as AE0085 Nov 20, 1991 Disposition: October 1997 / To Fritz Enterprises, Taylor, MI. (Actually to HVF West yard, Tucson). Scrapped.
context_page_description: The 120th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the Colorado Air National Guard 140th Wing located at Buckley Air Force Base, Aurora, Colorado. The 120th is equipped with the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon.
  The squadron is a descendant organization of the World War I 120th Aero Squadron, established on 28 August 1917. It was reformed on 27 June 1923, as the 120th Observation Squadron, and is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.
  The 120th Fighter Squadron was the first federally recognized Air National Guard unit, receiving this distinction on 30 June 1946. Thus, their motto is, "First in the Air Guard."
context_section_description: The 140th was transferred back to Tactical Air Command in January 1961, the squadron being re-designated as the 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron.  In 1968, While flying the F-100C Super Sabre in Vietnam, the unit became the first guard unit activated and deployed for one year to southeast Asia.  As part of the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing, Phan Rang AB, the squadron flew primarily ground support missions, and beat back many enemy attacks on American and South Vietnamese ground units.  The 140th also performed interdiction, visual and armed reconnaissance, strike assessment photography, escort, close and direct air support, and rapid reaction alert.
  The 120th earned the United States Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with the "V" device for valor during the conflict by flying over 6,000 combat missions. After returning from Vietnam, the Guard was upgraded with the D-model of the F-100 Super Sabre.
  The LTV A-7D Corsair II replaced the F-100 in April 1974 and the aircraft was flown to victory as the "World Champions" in the inaugural "Gunsmoke" competition held at Nellis Air Force Base in 1981.
  The 120th converted to the Lockheed-Martin F-16C Falcon in 1992 and won the Air Force Association award for the Outstanding Air National Guard Unit in 2001.
caption: 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron A-7D 71-341, about 1988
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