301st Fighter Wing The 301st Fighter Wing ( 301 FW ) is an Air Reserve Component ( ARC ) of the United States Air Force . It is assigned to the Tenth Air Force , Air Force Reserve Command , stationed at Carswell Field , Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth , Texas . If mobilized , the Wing is gained by the Air Combat Command . Mission . The mission of the unit is to maintain a state of readiness to deploy people and their assigned fighter aircraft ( the F - 16 ) wherever needed when notified of recall to active duty . Wing people assigned to the 301st Fighter Wing repeatedly demonstrate their flying expertise and professionalism in Air Combat Command , Air Force Reserve Command and NATO exercises designed to emphasize that to retain the country ’ s combat ready posture it must train as it plans to fight . The wing comes under 10th Air Force , one of the three numbered Air Forces of the Air Force Reserve . If mobilized , the wing would come under Air Combat Command ’ s 12th Air Force . Day to day activities of the wing are managed by full - time air reserve technicians and department of the Air Force civilians . Ready reservist assigned to the wing are required to attend unit training assemblies which are scheduled for one weekend each month , plus serve 15 days active duty each year to fulfill their reserve commitment . Since reserve pilots are required to maintain the same degree of readiness as their active duty counterparts , flying activities are scheduled Tuesday through Saturday of each week throughout the year . The 301st Fighter Wing Commander is Brigadier General Ronald B . Miller . Units . Wing attached units History . The unit ' s origins begin during World War II , when it was part of Twentieth Air Force . The 301st Fighter Wing ' s P - 47N aircraft flew very long range ( VLR ) escort missions of B - 29 Superfortress bombardment groups against Japan . World War II . The 301st Fighter Wing was organized in the United States under First Air Force , initially at Seymour - Johnson Field , North Carolina in October 1944 , then moved to Mitchel Field on Long Island in November . On Long Island , the wing coordinated the delivery of the very long range Republic P - 47N Thunderbolt from its manufacturing plant at Farmingdale , with aircraft being flown to North Carolina where two of the newly assigned groups of the 301st ( 413th and 414th ) were training . The war in the Pacific required fighter ranges even greater than did operations over Germany , and the mission of the 301st Fighter Wing was to provide bomber escort for Twentieth Air Force B - 29 Superfortress bombers during their strategic bombing missions over Japan in 1945 . Soon after Saipan and Guam were taken with B - 29 units being assigned there , the 318th Group formed on the Ryukyu Islands , consisting of six fighter groups , the 15th and 21st ( being transferred from Seventh Air Force ) and the 413th , 414th , 506th and 507th , all being deployed from the United States . Being the first wing to be equipped with the P - 47N , the groups operated as a long - range escort for B - 29 Superfortress bombers attacking the Japanese mainland all the way from Saipan to Japan and on many other long , overwater flights . In July 1945 the 301st was reassigned to the Eighth Air Force with the same mission for Eighth Air Force in the planned invasion of Japan . The atomic bombings of Japan led to the Japanese surrender before Eighth Air Force saw action in the Pacific theater . The wing was reassigned to Far East Air Forces when Eighth Air Force was returned to the United States in 1946 . Its four wartime fighter groups returned to the United States early in 1946 , being replaced by the 51st Fighter Group as its operational unit . It served as part of the Army of Occupation on Okinawa . The wing performed air defense role over the Ryukyu Islands . After 18 August 1948 , the wing had no units assigned and existed as a paper unituntil inactivated on 20 January 1949 . Cold War . The 301st was reactivated in July 1972 as the 301st Tactical Fighter Wing at Carswell AFB , Texas in the United States Air Force Reserve . Upon reactivation the wing was assigned the Republic F - 105 " Thunderchief " , with the Carswell based 457th Fighter Squadron using specially modified version of the F - 105D called the " Thunderstick II " . The 301st Fighter Wing led the way for Air Force Reserve fighter units in deploying to overseas bases for NATO exercises when it deployed to Norvenich Air Base , Germany , in August 1977 and Gioia del Colle Air Base , Italy , in May 1979 . In 1981 , the wing converted to the McDonnell - Douglas F - 4D Phantom II . Subsequent overseas deployments by the 301st Fighter Wing included Cigli Air Base , Turkey , in October 1982 . A deployment to Sivrihisar Air Base , Turkey , in May 1985 was an AFRES first when they operated under bare base conditions . The unit also deployed to Homestead Air Force Base , Florida , Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico , Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada , and Elmendorf Air Force Base , Alaska . In 1987 the unit began swapping to the newer F - 4E Phantom II . During Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm , many wing people were recalled to active duty and served at various locations throughout the United States , Germany , England , and Southwest Asia . In April 1991 , the wing converted to the F - 16C / D , " Fighting Falcon " . Modern era . In December 1993 , the wing deployed six F - 16s , ( along with six from the 944th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB , Arizona ) , and approximately 350 wing people to Aviano Air Base , Italy , in support of United Nations Operation Deny Flight mission . Due to the wing converting from the F - 4 to the F - 16 fighter aircraft during Desert Shield / Storm , this voluntary deployment to Aviano AB was the first non - exercise operational aviation deployment since flying fighters out of Carswell in 1972 . Due to achieving the highest rating possible from the May 1994 Operational Readiness Inspection and supporting the Deny Flight mission , the 301st Fighter Wing was awarded as an Air Force outstanding unit for the period May 1992 to May 1994 . In May and June 1997 , the wing deployed to Karup Air Station , Denmark . The wing joined forces with three US Air Force units and foreign militaries in two separate exercises while in Denmark . The first was a command and control exercise , called Central Enterprise . The second exercise was called BALTOPS , short for Baltic Operations . In May 1998 , the wing deployed with six Air Force Reserve aircraft in support United Nations Southern Watch mission in Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base , Kuwait . Global War on Terrorism . Elements of the 301st Fighter Wing deployed in October 2001 to the Middle East as part of a regularly scheduled aerospace expeditionary force rotation to enforce the no - fly zone over southern Iraq . While there , the reservists also began flying combat missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom ( OIF ) over Afghanistan . Throughout the 90 - day deployment , the reservists flew between nine and 15 hours a day . In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations , DoD recommended to realign Hill AFB . It would distribute nine of the 419th Fighter Wing F - 16s to the 301st Fighter Wing . In 2007 the wing gained another eight aircraft from the 192d Fighter Wing of the Virginia Air National Guard bringing its total to 32 airplanes .