479th Tactical Training Wing The 479th Tactical Training Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last assignment was with Tactical Training , Holloman , stationed at Holloman Air Force Base , New Mexico . It was inactivated on 26 July 1991 . Upon inactivation , all personnel , equipment and aircraft were redesignated as the 479th Fighter Group . History . On 1 December 1952 the unit was established as the 479th Fighter - Bomber Wing at George AFB , California , replacing the Federalized Missouri Air National Guard 131st Fighter - Bomber Wing , which had been brought to active duty during the Korean War . The 479th FBW inherited the F - 51D Mustangs of the ANG unit as well as becoming the host wing of George AFB for almost the next 20 years . Its operational squadrons were the 434th , 435th , 436th , and the wing squadrons participated in numerous exercises , augmented air defenses of the West Coast , and deployed overseas to support both USAFE during periods of tension in Western Europe ; to Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis and to PACAF during the Vietnam War . F - 100 Super Sabre era . Initially , the new wing maintained tactical proficiency with the World War II – era F - 51Ds inherited from the Air National Guard , then in February 1953 upgrading to the North American F - 86H Sabre jet aircraft . The wing was chosen to be the first USAF wing to be equipped with the North American F - 100A Super Sabre , receiving its first aircraft in November 1953 . The 479th became operationally ready with the F - 100A on 29 September 1954 . However , the F - 100A had been rushed into service with unseeming haste , often over the objections of Air Force flight crews who found that the Super Sabre had some serious problems that were not being adequately addressed . Disaster struck on 12 October 1954 . On that day , veteran test pilot George Welch was carrying out a maximum performance test dive followed by a high - G pullout with the ninth production F - 100A ( 52 - 5764 ) when his aircraft disintegrated in midair . Deficiencies were found with the design of the airplane and modifications were made . The F - 100A ' s performance was considered good but there were still some major operational deficiencies which prevented the F - 100A from being a really good day fighter . Consequently , the F - 100A was never very popular with its flight crews . F - 104 Starfighter era . Since the F - 100A was not considered as a truly effective air superiority fighter , the service life of the type with the USAF was rather brief , most aircraft being phased out of the active USAF inventory beginning in 1958 . Beginning in October 1958 , the 479th was reequipped with the Lockheed F - 104 Starfighter . The Starfighter was primarily intended for a nuclear strike , but Tactical Air Command wanted to use it to carry out ground attack missions with conventional weapons . However the F - 104 was not really well - suited to USAF needs , being deficient in range , endurance , and offensive capability . In addition , it lacked true all - weather capability . Out of the total of 722 Starfighters originally ordered for the USAF , only 296 were actually delivered , the remainder being canceled . However the modifications made to the F - 104G led to a large number of foreign sales , with the Starfighter metamorphosing from a mediocre air - superiority day fighter into a highly capable multirole all - weather strike fighter . The excellent flying weather in Southern California gave the 479th a new mission to train F - 104 pilots from West Germany , Canada , the Netherlands and Italy during January 1962 – August 1963 as a result of the large foreign sales . During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis , the 435th TFS deployed to Naval Air Station Key West , Florida , with the 435th TFS deploying to carry out air strikes against targets in Cuba in case an invasion proved to be necessary . Fortunately , the crisis was peacefully resolved . The 479th was the only USAF wing to take the F - 104C into combat when in April 1965 , the 476th TFS deployed to Kung Kuan Air Base , Taiwan . From its base in Taiwan , the squadron began a regular rotation to Da Nang Air Base , South Vietnam where its mission was to fly MiG combat air patrol ( MiGCAP ) missions to protect USAF F - 100 fighter bombers against attack by North Vietnam ese fighters . The effect of F - 104 deployment upon NVN and PRC MiG operations was immediate and dramatic . NVN MiGs soon learned to avoid contact with USAF strikes being covered by the F - 104s . During the entire deployment of the 476th only two fleeting encounters between F - 104Cs and enemy fighters occurred . As the MiG threat abated , the 476th TFS was tasked with some weather reconnaissance and ground attack missions . A few of these were against targets in North Vietnam , but most of them were close air - support missions against targets in the South under forward air controller direction . The F - 104s were fairly successful in this role , gaining a reputation for accuracy in their cannon fire and their bombing and capable of quite rapid reaction times in response to requests for air support . During this period , the 476th F - 104s maintained an in - commission rate of 94 . 7 % , a testimony both to the quality of 476th maintenance personnel and to the simplicity and maintainability of F - 104 systems . However , an F - 104 went down during a sortie 100 nm SSW of DaNang on 29 June . The pilot was rescued with minor injuries . The 436th TFS assumed the 476th ' s commitment in DaNang on 11 July , and the 436th began flying combat sorties the next day . Although a few MiGCAP missions were flown , the majority of the missions were quick - reaction close - air support missions in support of ground troops . On 23 July , Capt . Roy Blakely attempted to crash - land his battle - damaged F - 104C at Chu Lai . Blakely successfully set his aircraft down gear - up , but died when his F - 104 swerved off the runway into a sand dune . The 436th TFS had a bad day on 20 September 1965 . F - 104C pilot Major Philip E . Smith managed to get lost while flying an EC - 121 escort mission over the Gulf of Tonkin . After several equipment failures and incorrect steering commands , he managed to wander over Hainan Island and was shot down by a pair of Chinese MiG - 19 s ( J - 6s ) . He ejected and was taken prisoner . While the rest of the squadron was out looking for Major Smith , two other F - 104s had a midair collision while returning to their base . Both pilots ejected and were recovered unharmed . A week later , another F - 104C was shot down by enemy AAA , and its pilot was killed . After these four losses , the remnants of the 436th were rotated back to George in November 1965 . F - 4 Phantom II . In December 1965 , the wing began transitioning to the F - 4 Phantom II , and gained two new squadrons ( 68th , 431st ) , both equipped with the new F - 4D model . The F - 4D was an improved version of the F - 4C , which had been deployed to South Vietnam the previous April . In February 1966 , the wing began F - 4 replacement pilot training and reassigned the 435th TFS with its F - 104Cs to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base , Thailand . The F - 104 remained with the 434th and 436th squadrons until early 1967 when they also were replaced by F - 4Ds and the Starfighters were reassigned to the 198th TFS of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard . The F - 104Cs replaced that unit ' s elderly F - 86H Sabre fighter - bombers . The 435th was then rotated back to George AFB from Thailand and also re - equipped with Phantoms . During the Vietnam War , the 479th became the premier F - 4 Fighter training wing of the USAF , and F - 4D pilots appeared in Southeast Asia for the first time in May 1967 . From the spring of 1967 , the F - 4D gradually began to replace the earlier F - 4C in combat over the skies of Vietnam . The first F - 4D MiG " kill " took place on 5 June 1967 , when crewmen Maj . Everett T . Raspberry and Capt . Francis Gullick shot down a MiG - 17 near Hanoi . Since the pilot and the WSO operated as a well - integrated team , both of them were credited with a kill when they scored one . Along with the USAF fighter pilot training , the 479th began training foreign personnel in F - 4 operations and maintenance in March 1969 , as they had done in the early 1960s with the F - 104 . Pilots were trained from Israel , Iran , Japan , and West Germany . In 1969 and 1970 , F - 4C and early model F - 4E aircraft were used by the 4452d and 4535th Combat Crew Training Squadrons . With the American withdrawal from its South Vietnam ese bases in 1971 , the 35th Tactical Fighter Wing was reassigned from Phan Rang Air Base to George . Under a program where combat wings from the Vietnam War were retained in order to preserve and honor their combat heritage , the 479th was inactivated with the 35th absorbing the personnel , equipment and aircraft of the 479th on 1 October 1971 . Flying Training Wing . The 479th was reactivated as 479th Tactical Training Wing on 1 January 1977 at Holloman AFB , New Mexico , flying the Northrup A T - 38 Talon . The 479th TTW ' s mission was to provide Lead - In Fighter Training ( LIFT ) training for pilots assigned to fly the spectrum of Air Force fighter and attack aircraft in all service components ( active , guard and reserve ) . Operational squadrons of the wing were : All 479th TTW aircraft carried the " HM " tail code . The LIFT program was sharply cut back in 1991 , with the training mission and aircraft being consolidated under the 586th Flight Training Squadron . Components . Groups Squadrons