8th Fighter Squadron The 8th Fighter Squadron ( 8 FS ) in an inactive United States Air Force squadron , last assigned to the 49th Operations Group , stationed at Holloman Air Force Base , New Mexico . The squadron was inactivated on 19 May 2011 . History . World War II . The 8th Fighter Squadron traces its origins to the formation of the 49th Pursuit Group ( Interceptor ) at Selfridge Field , Michigan on 20 November 1940 . The 8th Pursuit Squadron was equipped with Seversky P - 35 s that were transferred from the 1st Pursuit Group that departed to Rockwell Field , California . In May 1941 , the squadron proceeded to Morrison Field , West Palm Beach , Florida , to train in the the Curtiss P - 40 fighter . With the advent of World War II , the squadron moved to Australia and became part of Fifth Air Force in January 1942 . It was re - designated as the 8th Fighter Squadron in May 1942 . The unit received Curtiss P - 40 Warhawks in Australia and , after training for a short time , provided air defense for the Northern Territory . The squadron moved to New Guinea in October 1942 to help stall the Japanese drive southward from Buna to Port Moresby . Engaged primarily in air defense of Port Moresby ; also escorted bombers and transports , and attacked enemy installations , supply lines , and troop concentrations in support of Allied ground forces . The 8th participated in the Allied offensive that pushed the Japanese back along the Kokoda Track , took part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943 , fought for control of the approaches to Huon Gulf , and supported ground forces during the campaign in which the Allies eventually recovered New Guinea . It covered the landings on Noemfoor and had a part in . the conquest of Biak . It was during this time that the 8th acquired their colorful name " The Black Sheep " Squadron . While the 7th and 9th squadrons received new aircraft , the 8th received the older aircraft being replaced by the other squadrons . Unhappy with being last on the supply line and not liking the unlucky " Eightballs " name caused the pilots to begin calling the 8th “ The Black Sheep " Squadron . The name stuck and a Disney artist designed the distinctive logo . After having used Lockheed P - 38 Lightnings , Curtiss P - 40 Warhawks and Republic P - 47 Thunderbolts , the 8th was equipped completely in September 1944 with P - 38 ' s , which were used to fly long - range escort and attack missions to Mindanao , Halmahera , Seram , and Borneo . The unit arrived in the Philippines in October 1944 , shortly after the assault landings on Leyte and engaged enemy fighters , attacked shipping in Ormoc Bay , supported ground forces , and covered the Allied invasion of Luzon . Other missions from the Philippines included strikes against industry and transportation on Formosa and against shipping along the China coast . During World War II the 8th FS amassed an impressive record of 207 aerial victories . Notable “ aces ” included Robert W . Aschenbrener ( 10 ) , Ernest Harris ( 10 ) , Robert White ( 9 ) , George Kiser ( 9 ) , Sammie Pierce ( 7 ) , James Morehead ( 7 ) , Willie Drier ( 6 ) , James Hagerstrom ( 6 ) , Robert Howard ( 6 ) , Don Meuten ( 6 ) , Nial Castle ( 5 ) , William Day ( 5 ) , Marion Felts ( 5 ) , Nelson Flack ( 5 ) . The 8th Fighter Squadron and its sister squadrons ( 7th Fighter Squadron and 9th Fighter Squadron ) attained a record of 668 aerial victories not matched in the Pacific Theater during World War II . After the Japanese Capitulation , the squadron moved to the Japanese Home Islands , initially being stationed at the former Imperial Japanese Navy Atsugi Airfield , near Tokyo on 15 September 1945 . It ' s war - weary P - 38 Lightnings were sent back to the United States and the squadron was re - equipped with P - 51D Mustang s with a mission of both occupation duty and show - of - force flights . In February 1946 , the squadron was moved to Chitose AB , on northern Honshu and assumed an air defense mission over Honshu and also Hokkaido Island . The pilots of the squadron were briefed not to allow any Soviet Air Force aircraft over Japanese airspace , as there was tension between the United States and the Soviet Union about Soviet occupation forces landing on Hokkaido . In April 1948 , the squadron moved to the newly - rebuilt Misawa AB when the host 49th Fighter Group took up home station responsibilities . At Misawa , the squadron moved into the jet age when it was re - equipped with the F - 80C Shooting Star . Korean War . With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 , the 8th was one of the first USAF squadrons dispatched to Korea from Japan , initially operating propeller - driven F - 51Ds to cover the evacuation of civilians from Kimpo and Suwon . Next , it flew close air support missions to help slow the advancing North Korean armies . Later , it turned to the interdiction of enemy troops , supplies and communications from Misawa . However its short - range F - 80Cs meant that the 49th had to move to South Korea in order for them to be effective . The squadron moved to Taegu AB ( K - 2 ) on 1 October 1950 , becoming the first jet fighter outfit to operate from bases in South Korea . During the autumn of 1950 and spring of 1951 , the squadron flew combat missions on a daily basis from Tageu , flying escort missions for B - 29 Superfortress es over North Korea and engaging Communist MiG - 15 fighters in air - to - air combat . When the Chinese Communist Forces ( CCF ) Intervention Campaign gained momentum in 1950 – 1951 , the squadron again concentrated on the ground support mission , attacking Communist Chinese ground units in North Korea , moving south until the line was stabilized and held just south of Seoul . The 49th changed equipment to the F - 84G Thunderjet in mid - 1951 , It engaged Communist forces on the ground in support of the 1st UN Counteroffensive Campaign ( 1951 ) . Afterwards , it engaged primarily in air interdiction operations against the main enemy channel of transportation , the roads and railroads between Pyongyang and Sinuiju . Also , it flew close air support missions for the ground forces and attacked high value targets , including the Sui - ho hydroelectric plants in June 1952 and the Kumgang Political School in October 1952 . On 27 July 1953 , the squadron joined with the 58th FBG to bomb Sunan Airfield for the final action of F - 84 fighter - bombers during the Korean War . The wing remained in Korea for a time after the armistice . It was reassigned to Japan in November 1953 and returned to its air defense mission . The squadron upgraded to the F - 86F Sabre in 1956 . By late 1957 , however , Worldwide DOD Budget restrictions during FY 1958 meant that the 49th FBW would be inactivated as part of a reduction of the USAF units based in Japan . United States Air Forces in Europe . Due to seniority , after the 49th ' s inactivation in Japan , the designation replaced the 388th Fighter - Bomber Wing at Etain - Rouvres Air Base , France on 10 December 1957 in a same - day , name - only transfer . The 8th FBS assumed the aircraft , personnel and equipment of the 562d Fighter - Bomber Squadron which was inactivated . As the 49th had been a part of American forces in the Pacific since it was sent to Australia in January 1942 , the assignment to Europe after fifteen years in the Pacific was a major change for the organization . Taking over the seven F - 100D Super Sabre s and three dual - seat F - 100F trainers of the 561st , the squadron continued its normal peacetime training . The squadron began keeping four of its planes on 15 - minute alert ( Victor Alert ) on 1 February 1958 so a portion of the squadron could react quickly in an emergency . During the fall of 1958 , most of the squadron operated from Chalon - Vatry Air Base while the runway at Etan was being repaired and resurfaced . However , the nuclear - capable F - 100 was troublesome to the host French Government , the French decreed that all United States nuclear weapons and delivery aircraft had to be removed from French soil by July 1958 . As a result , the F - 100 ' s of the 49th FBW had to be removed from France . After negotiations with the French , the 49th ' s Wing commander was informed that the wing would be departing from France on 1 July 1959 and be moved to Spangdahlem AB , West Germany . During the relocation to West Germany , the squadron deployed to Wheelus Air Base , Libya , for gunnery training . However , not all squadron personnel moved to Spangdahlem , as many of the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing personnel there were almost at the end of their tours and did not want to move to RAF Alconbury , where the 10th was being relocated to in order to accommodate the 49th . As a result , some squadron ground support personnel instead moved to RAF Lakenheath , England to backfill vacancies there , while the 10th TRW personnel at Spandahlem were allowed to finish out their assignments . At Spangdahlem , the squadron flew F - 100s until 1961 when it converted to the Republic F - 105D / F Thunderchief , commonly known as the " Thud " . The 49th TFW was only the third USAF unit to operate the F - 105 . As part of USAFE , the 8th participated in many NATO exercises . In February 1967 , the 8th opened the 49th Weapons Training Detachment at Wheelus Air Base , Libya , to begin transition to the McDonnell Douglas F - 4D Phantom II , and received it ' s first F - 4D on 9 March 1967 . In the late 1960s , the Defense Budget began to be squeezed by the costs of the ongoing Vietnam War . Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara decided to reduce costs in Europe by " Dual Basing " United States military units in Europe by returning them permanently to the United States , and conducting annual deployment exercises in Europe , giving the units a NATO commitment for deployment to bases in Europe if tensions with the Soviet Union warranted an immediate military buildup . The 49th Tactical Fighter Wing was returned to the United States under this policy , being reassigned on 1 July 1968 to Holloman Air Force Base , New Mexico , to serve as the US Air Force ’ s first dual - based , NATO - committed wing . Holloman Air Force Base . At Holloman , the squadron participated in Tactical Air Command tactical exercises and firepower demonstrations to maintain combat readiness . Also , the first " Tail Codes " to identify squadron aircraft were applied , rather than the traditional yellow colors of the 8th which had been used since the Korean War . Initially " HC " was the tail code identifier for the 8th , however , in 1972 , the Air Force issued AFM 66 - 1 which specified wing tail codes and the squadron ' s planes were standardized on the 49th ' s " HO " tail code . However , a yellow tail stripe was applied to identify squadron aircraft . The 8th also retained its NATO commitment to return once a year to its " dual base " home in West Germany . These deployments were known as " Crested Cap " , and were as follows : With the end of the Cold War and subsequent force drawdowns by USAFE , these annual exercises ended in 1991 . Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base . On 4 May 1972 , after North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam , the entire wing , except for a rear echelon that remained to run Holloman , deployed at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base , Thailand . Operation Constant Guard III , ordered in response to the North Vietnamese invasion , was the largest movement that the Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) had ever performed . In nine days , the squadron deployed its F - 4D Phantom IIs from Holloman to Takhli . Airmen arriving reported that Takhli was a mess , with missing or broken plumbing fixtures , no hot water , and no drinking water - that had to be trucked in from Korat every day . Bed frames had been thrown out of the hootches into the high snake - infested grass , and mattresses or bedding consisted of sleeping bags at best . The 8th TFS flew combat sorties in South Vietnam , Cambodia , and Laos from 1 July – 24 September 1972 during Operation Linebacker , the bombardment campaign in North Vietnam . During this deployment , Operation Constant Guard , the squadron flew over just about every battle zone from An Loc to vital installations in the Hanoi vicinity . During five months of combat , the squadron did not lose any aircraft or personnel . The unit officially closed out its Southwest Asia duty 6 October 1972 . F - 15A Eagle era . In October 1977 , the 49th TFW ended its " dual - base " commitment to NATO and changed to an air superiority mission with the wing beginning a conversion from the F - 4D Phantom II to the F - 15A Eagle ; the 49th being the second USAF operational wing to receive the F - 15A . The transition was completed 4 June 1978 . Due to the change in equipment , the annual NATO deployments were taken over by the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing , Seymour Johnson AFB , in 1978 , however they resumed ( although not on an annual basis ) in 1981 . In the United States , training missions was refocused on dissimilar air combat tactics for multi - theater operations , partipating in numerous Red Flags , Joint Training exercises , and deployments in the Air Defense / Superiority Mission . Frequent deployments were made to Nellis AFB , Nevada to exercise with the F - 5E Tiger II " Agressor " aircraft of the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing , and other aircraft types ( including clandestine exercises with Soviet aircraft flown by the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Tonopah Test Range Airport , Nevada ) . Also , after TAC absorbed the interceptor mission of Aerospace Defense Command ( ADTAC ) in 1979 , the Squadron maintained the TAC NORAD Air Defense Alert commitment in the Eagle , with the best scramble times in NORAD . With the introduction of the F - 15C Eagle in the mid - 1980s , the upgraded Eagle began replacing the F - 15A / Bs in service with all of the USAF units that had previously been operating the Eagle with the exception of the 49th TFW . By the time of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 , the F - 15A Eagles at Holloman had been relegated to a training role ; combat deployments of the Eagle were the purview of F - 15C units . F - 117 Nighthawk era . In 1992 , the 49th FW underwent a number of transitions . As a result of the end of the Cold War , reduced defense budgets were the order of the day . As a result , the 8th Fighter Squadron retired its F - 15A Eagles and received the F - 117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighters of the 37th Fighter Wing 416th Fighter Squadron , which was subsequently inactivated . After conversion to the F - 117A in May 1992 , The 8th deployed fighters and their crews to Southwest Asia during the 1990s as part of Operation Southern Watch to support United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq , to enforce the no - fly zone over the southern part of that country to deprive Saddam Hussein of his Weapons of Mass Destruction ( WMD ) programs and to force his compliance with the UN monitoring regime . 8th F - 117s fighters deployed to the Gulf in 1998 during Operation Desert Fox to upgrade the strike force ' s capability to attack high - value targets . But the 18 hour flight from Holloman AFB to Kuwait meant that the operation was over before the F - 117 aircraft arrived in the Gulf . Operation Allied Force . In early 1999 , the 8th deployed F - 117 and their crews to Aviano Air Base , Italy and Spangdahlem Air Base , Germany from 21 February – 1 July 1999 , in support of Operation Allied Force , the NATO attempt to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in the former nation of Yugoslavia . In the opening phase of the operation , aimed primarily at Yugoslavia ' s integrated air defense system , NATO air forces conducted more than 400 sorties . During the first two night attacks , allied air forces struck 90 targets throughout Yugoslavia and in Kosovo . F - 117 Nighthawks from the 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron participated in air strikes against targets in the Balkans during NATO operations bravely trusting in their aircraft ' s low observable technology struck some of the most valuable and highly guarded targets in Serbia . The F - 117s successfully penetrated the heavily defended areas , which conventional aircraft could not reach . One F - 117 fighter was lost over Yugoslavia on 27 March 1999 , apparently struck by a salvo of SA - 3 Goa surface - to - air missiles . Unknown to NATO , Yugoslav air defenses operators had found they could detect F - 117s with their " obsolete " Soviet radars after some modifications that could detect the aircraft when their wheels were down or bomb bay doors were open . A US search and rescue team picked up the pilot several hours after the F - 117 went down outside Belgrade . This was the first and so far the only F - 117 to have been lost in action . On 1 April 1999 , Defense Secretary William Cohen directed 12 more F - 117 stealth fighters to join NATO Operation Allied Force , to join the total of 24 F - 117s that were participating in NATO Operation Allied Force . Operation Enduring Freedom . People , airplanes , and equipment of the 49th Fighter Wing played a key role in Operation Iraqi Freedom . The wing ' s F - 117s played a major role , dropping the first bombs against an Iraqi leadership target in Baghdad on 19 March 2003 . Deployed to Al Udeid Air Base , Qatar , assigned to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing , on the opening night of the invasion , fresh intelligence was received that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was staying at a specific bunker for the night . USAF planners had a rare opportunity to kill the elusive Iraqi leader . It was reasoned that might bring down his regime without war . The F - 117s would carry the new GPS - guided EGBU - 27 precision guided bomb . The problem was it had never been used in combat and the weapons had arrived at Al Udeid a mere 24 hours earlier . Combat preparation of the fighters began immediately . The plan called for the F - 117s to take off as soon as possible . Two stealth fighters roared northward into the nighttime sky at 3 : 38 a . m . After refueling over the Gulf near Kuwait City , the stealth fighters split up and took separate routes over Iraq to the target area . The sun was starting to come up and the sun was starting to come up by the time the pilots reached Baghdad , however on that morning Baghdad was obscured under low - level clouds . Each of the two F - 117s released two bombs , which plummeted toward the bunker in which Saddam Hussein was believed to be sleeping . Release came at 5 : 30 a . m . , 13 minutes after dawn but only five hours after the pilots first heard that such a mission might be in the offing . The strike caught Iraqi defenses completely off guard . Defensive anti - aircraft fire did not begin until the aircraft had completed the attack and were racing out of the Baghdad area . Although the strike did not kill Saddam Hussein , what it did accomplish was to allow the coalition to seize the initiative . Also the EGBU - 27 immediately became the F - 117 ’ s premier weapon . According to Air Force data , 98 of them were delivered during the conflict , compared to only 11 of the traditional , predominantly laser versions . During Operation Iraqi Freedom , F - 117 pilots flew more than 80 missions and dropped nearly 100 enhanced guided bomb units against key targets . Approximately 300 people deployed with the air package and provided direct support to the F - 117 mission . In 2006 , the Air Force announced that Holloman AFB would cease to be the home of the F - 117A Nighthawk , coinciding with the announcement that the aircraft was set to be retired from service by 2008 . The planes were sent to their former base at Tonopah Airport , Nevada for retirement and long - term indoor storage . Tonopah was selected to store the aircraft as it was stated that even in retirement , the stealth technology of the aircraft remained classified . Therefore , the planes would be stored in their former hangars where they were originally kept during the years the existence of the aircraft was secret . The last F - 117A Nighthawk flew to Tonopah in late April 2008 , and as a result , the 8th inactivated for the first time after 67 years of active service on 16 May 2008 . F - 22A Raptor era . The inactivation of the 8th , however , was brief as it was re - activated on 25 Sept 2009 , and equipped with the F - 22A Raptor . The 8th , was the second of two F - 22A squadrons to be activated at Holloman and joined the previously - equipped 7th Fighter Squadron at Holloman AFB . The squadron was equipped with 18 F - 22s , the last aircraft being received in 2010 . Since its re - activation , the 8th Fighter Squadron deployed frequently to overseas locations in support of United States objectives . However , after less than two years of operating F - 22s , in 2010 it was announced that the squadron would stand down due to the Air Force ’ s Raptor fleet consolidation plan , which called for Holloman to give up its two squadrons of F - 22s for two F - 16 Fighting Falcon training squadrons . As a result , some of the 8th FS F - 22s went temporarily to the 7th Fighter Squadron , while others were transferred to the 3d Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf - Richardson , Alaska ; the 1st Fighter Wing at Joint Base Langley - Eustis , Virginia , and to the USAF Weapons School at Nellis AFB , Nevada . On 19 May 2011 , the 8th Fighter squadron was inactivated .