104th Fighter Wing The 104th Fighter Wing ( 104 FW ) is a unit of the Massachusetts Air National Guard , stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base , Westfield , Massachusetts . If activated to federal service , the Wing is gained by the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . As commonwealth militia units , the units in the 104th Fighter Wing are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command . They are under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts National Guard unless they are federalized by order of the President of the United States . Overview . The 104th Fighter Wing supports Air Force wartime contingency requirements and performs a variety of peacetime missions required by the Air Force to include an active Air Sovereignty Alert presence and compatible mobilization readiness . Specifically , the Wing is tasked to provide operationally ready combat units , combat support units and qualified personnel for active duty . It ' s goal is to organize , train and equip assigned personnel to provide an operationally ready squadron to the Air Combat Command that flies and fights successfully . Units . The 104th Fighter Wing consists of the following major units : History . On 1 May 1956 the Massachusetts Air National Guard 102d Fighter - Interceptor Wing was expanded and re - designated as the 102d Air Defense Wing . As a result , the 131st Fighter - Interceptor Squadron at Barnes Municipal Airport was authorized to expand to a group level , and the 104th Fighter Group ( Air Defense ) was established by the National Guard Bureau . The 131st FIS becoming the group ' s flying squadron . Other squadrons assigned into the group were the 104th Headquarters , 104th Material Squadron ( Maintenance ) , 104th Combat Support Squadron , and the 104th USAF Dispensary . The mission of the 104th Fighter Group was the air defense of Massachusetts . The 104th , along with the new 102d Fighter Group ( Air Defense ) at Logan Airport , Boston began attending annual training at Otis Air Force Base . Tactical Air Command . The air defense mission ended on 10 November 1958 when the Massachusetts Air Guard and its units were reassigned to Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) and converted to F - 86H Sabre fighter - bombers . During the 1950s and early 1960s , better training and equipment , and closer relations with the Air Force greatly improved the readiness of the Massachusetts Air National Guard . 1961 Berlin Federalization . During the summer of 1961 , as the 1961 Berlin Crisis unfolded , the 131st TFS was notified on 16 August of its pending federalization and recall to active duty . On 1 October the 131st was federalized and assigned to the 102d Tactical Fighter Wing , which was federalized and placed on active duty at Otis Air Force Base . The mission of the 102d TFW was to reinforce the United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) and deploy to Phalsbourg - Bourscheid Air Base , France . In France , the unit was to provide close air support to NATO ground forces and air interdiction . This involved keeping its aircraft on 24 / 7 alert . Between 28 and 30 October , the 102d TFW departed Otis AFB for Phalsbourg . The wing deployed 82 F - 86H Sabres . In addition 2 C - 47 and 6 T - 33 aircraft were assigned to the wing for support and training purposes . Starting on 5 December , the 102d began deploying to Wheelus Air Base Libya for gunnery training . During its time in Europe , the 102d participated in several USAF and NATO exercises , including a deployment to Leck Air Base , West Germany near the Danish border . At Leck , ground and support crews from both countries exchanged duties , learning how to perform aircraft maintenance and operational support tasks . On 7 May 1962 , USAFE Seventeenth Air Force directed that the 102d TFW would deploy back to the United States during the summer , and the unit returned to the United States in July 1962 . Regular USAF personnel , along with a group of ANG personnel who volunteered to remain on active duty formed the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the newly activated 366th Tactical Fighter Wing . The last of the ANG aircraft departing on 20 July . Vietnam era . After the Berlin Crisis , the readiness status of the 104th Tactical Fighter Group greatly improved under the “ gaining command concept ” , whereby the U . S . Air Force Tactical Air Command was responsible for overseeing the training of the Group . Operational readiness inspections also honed the edges of the wing . In 1964 , the 131st TFS was switched from F - 86H Sabres to the F - 84F Thunderstreak . Exactly why this equipment change was made can not be determined . The F - 86H was a viable aircraft in the ANG ' s inventory , with the Sabres from both the 101st and 131st TFS ' s being sent to the New Jersey ANG , and the 119th and 141st TFS ' s sending their F - 84Fs to the Massachusetts squadrons . The 131st flew the Thunderstreaks throughout the 1960s , and although the squadron was not activated during the Vietnam War , several of its pilots volunteered for combat duty in Southeast Asia . In 1971 , the 104th began re - equipping with the F - 100D Super Sabre ; the Air Guard was always one generation of fighter aircraft behind the Air Force during this time . Close Air Support . The 104th remained as a tactical fighter unit flying the F - 100 until July 1979 when the F - 100s were retired and the unit was re - equipped with new A - 10 Thunderbolt II s as part of the as part of the " Total Force " concept which equipped ANG units with front - line USAF aircraft . This marked the first time the 131st had received new aircraft . For most of its existence , the Air Guard had been a reserve force for use only in wartime . By the 1980s , the Air Guard was an integral part of daily Air Force operations . As a result , the Massachusetts Air Guard took on more missions . With the receipt of the A - 10 , the 104th began a commitment to the United States Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) , beginning frequent deployments to West Germany , England , Italy , Turkey , and other NATO bases . As the Cold War was ending , the Massachusetts Air National Guard was called upon to meet new challenges . Iraq ’ s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 led to a U . S . response with air , ground and naval attacks during Operation Desert Storm . While no flying units of the Massachusetts Air Guard were mobilized , mission support units provided personnel to backfill deploying Air Force units in the U . S . The Total Force Policy of the Department of Defense stipulated that the Reserve Components were to play a large role in the nation ’ s defense . Air Combat Command . In March 1992 , with the end of the Cold War , the 104th adopted the Air Force Objective Organization plan , and the unit was re - designated as the 104th Fighter Group . In June , Tactical Air Command was inactivated as part of the Air Force reorganization after the end of the Cold War . It was replaced by Air Combat Command ( ACC ) . In 1995 , in accordance with the Air Force " One Base - One Wing " directive , the 104th was changed in status back to a Wing , and the 131st Fighter Squadron was assigned to the new 104th Operations Group . From August to October 1995 , some 400 Airmen of the 104th Fighter Wing deployed to Aviano Air Base , Italy as part of the NATO mission to repel Serbian forces in Bosnia . This was the first time that the 131st Fighter Squadron flew combat sorties . Four years later , in 1999 , elements of the 104th mobilized and flew sorties over the skies of the former Republic of Yugoslavia . As part of an Air Guard A - 10 group , the 131st attacked Serb forces in Kosovo . In mid - 1996 , the Air Force , in response to budget cuts , and changing world situations , began experimenting with Air Expeditionary organizations . The Air Expeditionary Force ( AEF ) concept was developed that would mix Active - Duty , Reserve and Air National Guard elements into a combined force . Instead of entire permanent units deploying as " Provisional " as in the 1991 Gulf War , Expeditionary units are composed of " aviation packages " from several wings , including active - duty Air Force , the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard , would be married together to carry out the assigned deployment rotation . As a result of the Global War on Terrorism , in 2003 , the 131st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron flew hundreds of combat missions with the A - 10 in support of U . S . Army and Marine operations in Afghanistan ( Operation Enduring Freedom ) and Iraq ( Operation Iraqi Freedom ) . During March and April 2003 , as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom , 131st Fighter Squadron A - 10s supported the U . S . Army by flying combat missions that interdicted enemy forces . The 104th played a major role with its air support . BRAC 2005 . In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations , DoD recommended to Barnes Municipal Airport Air Guard Station and send its A - 10s to the Maryland Air National Guard 104th Fighter Squadron , Warfield Air National Guard Base , Middle River , Maryland . In return , the 104th received the F - 15C / D Eagles of the 102d Fighter Wing at Otis AFB , which was to convert into a non - flying Intelligence Wing . The realignment marked the end for the 104th ' s nearly 30 - year mission of flying close - air support missions with the A - 10 . The 104th took over the homeland security mission of the 102d . In 2007 , the A - 10s began flying to Maryland and the F - 15s began arriving from Otis AFB . By the end of 2007 , eighteen F - 15C and a trainer F - 15D arrived . In addition to the air defense mission , the men and women of the 104th Fighter Wing deploy on Air Expeditionary missions to the Middle East in support of combat operations as part of Operation Enduring Freedom . The last such deployment was completed in July , 2012 . In May 2013 , it was announced that one third of the 104th Fighter Wing ' s F - 15 aircraft would be moving to Otis Air National Guard Base to take up an alert mission for four to six month , as Barnes ' runway underwent renovation .