34th Fighter Squadron The 34th Fighter Squadron ( 34 FS ) was part of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base , Utah . It operated the F - 16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority missions . Mission . Conduct air - to - air and air - to - ground operations for daylight and nighttime missions . History . The 34th was activated at Seymour Johnson Field , North Carolina on 15 October 1944 , flying the P - 47 Thunderbolt . The squadron served in the final stages of World War II , seeing combat operations in the Western Pacific from May 1945 to August 1946 , while it was stationed in the Ryukyu Islands , first on Ie Shima and later on Okinawa . The 34th FS was inactivated on 15 October 1946 , following the war , and was redesignated the 34th Fighter - Day Squadron prior to its reactivation in November 1954 , at George Air Force Base , California . It was part of the 413th Fighter - Day Wing and was equipped with the F - 86 Sabre . The 34th transitioned into the F - 100 Super Sabre in 1956 , which it flew until 1959 when it was again inactivated . On 2 May 1966 , the 34th FS was again activated and assigned to Pacific Air Forces . The squadron was part of the 41st Air Division at Yokota Air Base , Japan . One month later , the 34th deployed and was attached to the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base , Thailand . The unit was equipped with the F - 105 Thunderchief and conducted combat operations until May 1969 . While assigned at Korat , the squadron transitioned into the F - 4 Phantom II and continued combat operations in Southeast Asia . The Rams participated in Operation Prize Bull on 21 September 1971 . This was the first time U . S . forces bombed North Vietnam using all - weather capability . The 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron performed strike missions in support of a recovery operation for the SS Mayagüez , a merchant freighter captured by Cambodia n Khmer Rouge guerrillas in May 1975 . On 23 December 1975 , the 34th , as part of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing , was relocated to Hill Air Force Base , Utah , still flying the F - 4D Phantom II . In November 1979 , the 34th TFS became the first fighter squadron to be fully equipped with the F - 16 Fighting Falcon . For the next several years , the squadron conducted initial qualification training for pilots from around the world , including those from Belgium , Denmark , the Netherlands , Israel , and Norway . When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 , the 34th found themselves backing up the front - line forces of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing ( Provisional ) in Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Storm . The squadron flew their desert missions at Torrejon Air Base , Spain . After the Gulf War , the 34th deployed in support of Operation Southern Watch . Between 1991 and 1996 , the 34th FS deployed to Southwest Asia a total of five times . Several members of the 34th were injured on 25 June 1996 when the Khobar Towers housing compound was attacked . During December 1998 , the 34th flew combat missions as part of Operation Desert Fox , a punitive operation aimed to make Iraq comply with United Nations sanctions . In June 2000 , the 34th was the first active duty squadron deployed to Curaçao , Netherlands Antilles in support of Operation Coronet Nighthawk , flying drug interdiction missions in Latin America . The 34th flew F - 16s combat air patrol sorties in support of Operation Noble Eagle during the 2002 Winter Olympics . In February 2003 the 34th supported Operation Noble Eagle from Langley Air Force Base , Virginia by patrolling the skies over Washington , D . C . , during the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom . They flew in support of Operation Noble Eagle again in October 2009 from Hill AFB , Utah . The 34th were deployed to Balad AB and flew combat air patrols over the skies of Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from May to October 2008 . They were also deployed to Bagram Air Base from January to June 2010 to fly combat air support missions in support of the NATO ISAF in Afghanistan . The 34th was inactivated on 16 July 2010 due to military restructuring .