20th Fighter Squadron The 20th Fighter Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force ( USAF ) squadron . It was most recently part of the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base , New Mexico . It operated the F - 4 Phantom II aircraft , conducting training and air superiority missions . It was inactivated on 20 December 2004 . History . World War II . The 20th was one of the original squadrons of the 35th Pursuit Group and trained in California with the group , flying Curtiss P - 36 Hawk s . At the end of the year , the squadron departed for the Philippines and assignment to Far East Air Force ( FEAF ) ' s flying element there , the 4th Composite Group and was equipped with obsolescent Boeing P - 26 Peashooter s . In October 1941 , FEAF organized its pursuit squadrons in the Philippines into the 24th Pursuit Group , which consisted of the 20th Pursuit Squadron and two other assigned squadrons , plus two other recently arrived squadrons that were attached to the group . The squadron re - equipped with Curtiss P - 40B Warhawk s . The 20th began to fly combat missions in the Philippines from the morning of 8 December 1941 , when Japanese aircraft were reported to be approaching Luzon , but failed because of the inadequacy of detection facilities . When the Japanese attacked later that day , the airplanes assigned to the 24th Pursuit Group were either on the ground or were so low on fuel they were unable to fight and suffered heavy losses . The squadron continued to fly missions until about 1 May 1942 , including patrol and reconnaissance missions , air to air combat , and strikes against enemy airfields and shipping . The squadron ' s ground echelon fought as an infantry unit in Bataan from 18 January 1942 to about 8 April 1942 , when it surrendered to Japanese forces along with those pilots who had not been evacuated to Australia . The squadron was carried on Army rolls as an active unit but was not operational from the fall of the Philippines until it was inactivated on 2 April 1946 . 20th Fighter Squadron . In 1971 , the West German government chose the F - 4 Phantom II as a replacement for its Lockheed F - 104G Starfighter interceptors . The version purchased ( F - 4F ) was a stripped - down version of the USAF F - 4E , which was significantly cheaper and incorporated major components that were manufactured in West Germany . As part of the purchase , an agreement was made between the West German government and the United States for the USAF to conduct basic F - 4 transition and instructor training . Under this agreement , the USAF reactivated the 20th as the 20th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron ( 20th TFTS ) at George AFB , California on 1 December 1972 . At the time George AFB was the primary USAF transition training base for F - 4s under Tactical Air Command . The flying weather in Southern California also is much better than it is in northern Europe . The 20th TFTS was assigned to the 35th Tactical Fighter Training Wing . It also supported members of the Luftwaffe 1st Training Squadron , under which German Air Force personnel were assigned while in the United States . Initially equipped with USAF F - 4E aircraft , training began for the German pilots in the spring of 1973 . Later , as the F - 4F was put into production by McDonnell , the F - 4Es were replaced with twelve West German F - 4Fs were that were given the unofficial designation of TF - 4F while they were being used to train Luftwaffe crews in the United States . The Luftwaffe F - 4Fs were operated with US national markings and given USAF tailcodes . These planes were replaced in 1978 by ten F - 4Es purchased by the West German government specifically for training in the United States , and the Luftwaffe F - 4Fs were then returned to West Germany . Students of the squadron came from the Luftwaffe JG - 71 ' Richthofen ' and JG - 74 ' Molders ' ( Interceptor Wings ) and JBG - 35 and JBG - 36 ( Ground attack wings ) . In 1979 , the squadron was commanded by Lt . Col . Howell M . Estes III , who later commanded Air Force Space Command as a General . Training at George ended on 5 June 1992 as part of the drawdown of the 35th Fighter Wing . George AFB was designated to be closed under BRAC ' 91 , and the base was officially decommissioned in December 1992 . The 20th was inactivated , and the training was reassigned to the 9th Fighter Squadron , 49th Operations Group at Holloman AFB , New Mexico . At the time of the transfer , the Luftwaffe owned seven of the F - 4Fs , and the 20th owned 17 F - 4Es . On 1 July 1993 , the 20th was reactivated with the 9th and was reassigned to fly the Lockheed F - 117 Nighthawk stealth fighter when it arrived at Holloman . By this time the 20th was flying German F - 4E / ICF and F - 4F / ICE ( Improved Combat Efficiency ) Phantom IIs with upgraded radar and other avionics . In the 1990s , the 20th Fighter Squadron also hosted the German Air Force Weapons School , and the leadership consisted of both a US and German Lieutenant Colonel . The Luftwaffe began to operate former East German MiG - 29 s , and several of these aircraft from JG - 73 were flown to New Mexico to train with the F - 4Fs of the 20th . The F - 4Es were removed from training and sent to Germany in 1997 . By the early 2000s , the German Air Force was phasing out the Phantoms in favor of the Panavia Tornado IDS and Eurofighter Typhoon interceptors . In its final year , the squadron was composed of just 13 US military officers , who brought their prior collective experience in the F - 15C , F - 16 and F - 4 to the German students arriving from pilot training for tactical training in the F - 4F . The F - 4F / ICEs were retired and the program at Holloman was officially ended on 20 December 2004 and its aircraft were transferred to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center . The first arrival , 72 - 1118 , was delivered by Col . Kevin Zeeck on 18 November . The second , 72 - 1218 , arrived at the base two days later . The remaining 14 F - 4s arrived at AMARC by the second week of January 2005 in 4 further waves . The 20th Fighter Squadron was the last operational United States Air Force squadron to fly the F - 4 Phantom II . ( although target drone QF - 4s were flown until 2013 ) . The last of the Luftwaffe F - 4F Phantom IIs in Germany were retired on 30 June 2013 by JG - 71 , although four aircraft remain in service for aerial demonstrations .