389th Fighter Squadron
The 389th Fighter Squadron is part of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. It operates McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft conducting close air support. Mission. Perform close air support, interdiction, strategic attack, suppression of enemy air defense, and defensive counterair missions, employing the full array of U.S. Air Force capabilities including precision-guided munitions, inertially-aided munitions, night vision goggles, fighter data link 366 OG Fact Sheet History. World War II. The 389th flew combat in the European Theater of Operations from 14 March 1943 to 3 May 1945. Lt. Col . John B. England, who was commander of the 389th Fighter-Bomber Squadron from Alexandria AFB, was killed when his F-86 crashed into the woods near Toul. He was returning from gunnery practice near Tripoli, Libya. The fog was very thick and visibility was near zero. After several attempts to locate the runway his plane suffered fuel starvation. At this moment he sighted a portion of the runway and was in a glide with a high probability of a successful landing. But his glide path took him over the barracks where his men were housed. He calmly stated on the radio  that this was not an acceptable risk. He turned and crashed into a wooded area outside the base perimeter. In his honor, Alexandria AFB was renamed England Air Force Base, and retained that name until its closure in 1993. Vietnam War. The squadron flew combat operations in Southeast Asia from 14 March 1966 to 8 October 1971. Recent operations. The squadron trained F-111 Aardvark aircrews from 30 September 1979 to 26 June 1991. It rotated aircraft and personnel to Southwest Asia throughout the 1990s in support of Operation Southern Watch. It furnished resources for units participating in Operation Enduring Freedom  and Operation Noble Eagle following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Pilots and aircraft deployed from unit conducted close air support mission after 2005, although the unit itself remained in the United States.