The 157th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the South Carolina Air National Guard 169th Fighter Wing located at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, South Carolina. The 157th is one of the few Air National Guard squadrons to operate the HARM Targeting System (HTS)-equipped F-16C Block 52 Fighting Falcon, also known as the F-16CJ.
History World War II
Activated in late 1942. Trained under First Air Force in northeastern United States with P-40 Warhawks, also performing air defense as part of Norfolk and Philadelphia Fighter Wings. Deployed to European Theater of Operations, June 1943, being equipped with P-47 Thunderbolts in England. Assigned as a heavy bomber escort squadron under VIII Fighter Command. Re-equipped with long-range P-51D Mustangs, July 1944, Thunderbolts being transferred to IX Fighter Command as fighter-bombers supporting ground forces in France. Performed bomber escort missions until the end of the war in Europe, April 1945. Squadron demobilized in England during the summer of 1945, inactivated in United States as a paper unit, October 1945.
South Carolina Air National Guard
The 350th Fighter Squadron was redesignated the 157th Fighter Squadron, and allotted to the National Guard on 24 May 1946. It was organized at Congaree Air Base, South Carolina and extended federal recognition on 9 December 1946. The 157th Fighter Squadron was assigned to the Georgia ANG 54th Fighter Wing, an umbrella organization formed for administrative and logistical support for many National Guard units in the southeastern United States. It remained, however, under the operational control of the South Carolina Air National Guard.
The 157th was equipped with F-51D Mustangs and was assigned an air defense mission for the state of South Carolina. In 1950 the 157th was re-equipped with former World War II F-5 Mustangs, now designated RF-51D which had been used in the United States in a training role. The squadron became part of Tactical Air Command as a reconnaissance squadron.
Korean War activation The 157th Fighter Squadron was federalized due to the Korean War on 10 October 1950. On 1 November the RF-51 Mustangs were transferred to other units and the 157th was re-equipped with RF-80A Shooting Star photo-reconnaissance jets and moved to Lawson Air Force Base, Georgia. At Lawson, the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was organized with the 157th along with the 160th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (Alabama ANG), also with RF-80As, and the 112th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (Ohio ANG) with RB-26C Invader night reconnaissance aircraft. The 117th Group was assigned to the newly-formed 117th Tactical Recoonnaissance Wing.
The 117th Group then began what was then believed to be a short transition training period. The original plan was to deploy the 117th to France and reinforce the United States Air Forces in Europe at a new base in France, Toul-Rosières Air Base. However Toul Air Base was still under construction, and delays in France for several reasons forced the 117th to remain at Lawson for over a year until finally deploying in January 1952.
The 117th arrived at Toul Air Base on 27 January 1952. However at the time of the wing's arrival, Toul consisted of a sea of mud, and the new jet runway was breaking up and could not support safe flying. The commander of the 117th deemed it uninhabitable and its flying squadrons of the wing were ordered dispersed to West Germany. The 112th Squadron was transferred to Wiesbaden Air Base, the 157th TRS to Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base, and the 160th to Neubiberg Air Base. The non-flying headquarters and support organizations remained at Toul.
The mission of the 117th was to provide tactical, visual, photographic and electronic reconnaissance by both day and night, as was required by the military forces within the European command. The RF-80s were responsible for the daylight operations; the RB-26s for night photography. In June 1952, the 117th was involved in Exercise June Primer. This exercise took place in an area bordered by a line drawn from Cherbourg to Geneva in the east and in the west by this Swiss, Austrian and Russian occupation zone borders.
The two RF-80 squadrons of the 117th had to complete a number of varying missions, including vertical photography of prospective paratroop air drop zones, oblique photos of the Rhine and Danube river bridges, vertical photography of the airfields of Jever, Fassburg, Celle, Sundorf and Gütersloh and various visual missions on behalf of the seventh army, including artillery adjustment for the 816th field artillery. The 157 TRS had had wire recorders fitted to five of its RF-80s prior to June Primer and these greatly facilitated the latter missions.
On 10 July 1952 the squadron was released from active duty and inactivated. its mission was taken over by the newly activated 32d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.
Air defense
After returning from West Germany, the squadron was r-formed at Congaree Air Base and the South Carolina Air National Guard assumed an air defense mission. Due to the lack of jet aircraft in the United States (most were being used in the Korean War), the 157th was re-equipped with very long-range F-51H Mustangs and the unit was allocated to the Eastern Air Defense Force, Air Defense Command (ADC). After the Korean Armistice in 1953, the 157th began to receive F-86A Sabre jets, pressed into the daylight interceptor mission by ADC. In 1954, the Mustangs were reaching the end of their service life, and ADC supplied the 157th with some F-80C Shooting Stars as an interim replacement.
On 5 September 1957, the 157th Fighter-Bomber Squadron was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 169th Fighter Group was established. The 157th was redesignated as the 157th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and became the group's flying squadron. Other elements assigned into the group were the 169th group headquarters, 169th Material Squadron (maintenance and supply), 169th Air Base Squadron, and the 169th USAF Dispensary. Shortly afterwards Air Defense Command upgraded the squadron to the all-weather/day-night F-86L Sabre Interceptor aircraft.
In 1960 ADC released all its F-104A Starfighters to the ANG because the F-104 fire control system was not sophisticated enough to make it an all-weather interceptor.McMullen, p. 6 The 157th was one of three selected ANG units to receive the Starfighter Mach-2 interceptors. The "Swamp Foxes", as a result of the national recognition as one of the best air defense units in the nation, were chosen to fly the new high performance jet fighter.
Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire Jr., the first commander of the South Carolina ANG and its first general officer died 25 May 1961, when he courageously piloted his malfunctioning F-104 fighter jet away from populated areas near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to crash into the Susquehanna River. On 1 October 1961, then-Governor Ernest F. Hollings presided over the ceremony renaming the heroic wing commander's South Carolina installation from Congaree Air Base to McEntire Air National Guard Base.
The 157th was called into active service a second time in November 1961 as the construction of the infamous "Berlin Wall" pushed the world to the brink of war. Within a month after mobilization, 750 personnel and 22 157th FIS F-104 aircraft were in place at Morón Air Base, Spain as the unit took up flying daily air defense patrols as part of the NATO air defense force in Western Europe. With world tension easing, the squadron returned home in August 1962.
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, ADC decided to make a permanent fighter unit at Homestead Air Force Base an F-104 unit because of its superior fighter-on-fighter performance. The F-104's lack of an all-weather capability not a factor because Cuba lacked a bomber force.McMullen, p. 18 In June 1963 the F-104s were transferred back to the active-duty Air Force. The South Carolina ANG was re-equipped with F-102A Delta Daggers, which became available because of Project Clearwater, which withdrew F-102s from overseas bases.McMullen, p. 51 The "Deuce", still a very potent interceptor, served with the 169th FIG until April 1975, when Aerospace Defense Command was reducing the USAF interceptor force as the threat of Soviet Bombers attacking the United States was deemed remote.
Tactical Air Command
With the phase-down of continental air defenses in the 1970s, the 169th was transferred to Tactical Air Command (TAC), and was redesignated a tactical fighter group. The 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron began to receive A-7D Corsair II subsonic tactical close air support aircraft from Tactical Air Command units that were preparing to receive the new A-10 Thunderbolt II. Receiving its aircraft from the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The aircraft had excellent accuracy with the aid of an automatic electronic navigation and weapons delivery system. Although designed primarily as a ground attack aircraft, it also had limited air-to-air combat capability. In 1982, the 157th received new twin-seat A-7K trainers.
In the early 1980s, the South Carolina congressional delegation in Congress, led by Senators Strom Thurmond and Ernest Hollings, pressured the Department of Defense to upgrade Army and Air National Guard units with front line equipment to better supplement the Active Duty forces as part of the "Total Force" concept. Specifically, Thurmond and Hollings wanted the Air Force to equip the South Carolina ANG with the new F-16 Fighting Falcon, which was, as the time, just being introduced into the active duty force of Tactical Air Command. Beginning in July 1983, some of the initial Block 1 and Block 5 F-16As were transferred to the 169th Tactical Fighter Group, being the first Air National Guard unit to receive the aircraft. Its A-7Ds were subsequently reassigned to other Air National Guard units. Later, Block 10 F-16A/B were delivered by the Air Force to the 157th TFS. By the mid eighties all the F-16s received by the 169th had undergone Pacer Loft modification bringing them up to the same block 10 standard.
With the equipment change to the F-16, the 169th was assigned to the air defense mission again under Air Defense, Tactical Air Command (ADTAC), which was established when TAC assumed the Aerospace Defense Command mission in 1979. In addition, although the F-16s weren't adapted to perform in the tactical close air support mission that the A-7D was utilized for, the 157th TFS did practice the conventional attack role with Mark 82 (Mk 82) and Mark 84 (Mk 84) gliding bombs. The quality of the pilots and ammunition/maintenance crews of the 157th TFS was demonstrated during Gunsmoke '89 held at Nellis AFB from 1 October till 14 October. The 157th TFS took first place out of 15 other teams.
In December 1990, during the buildup for war during Operation Desert Shield, the 157th was federalized for a third time and was deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia just a year and a half after taking first place at Gunsmoke '89. The 157th Tactical Fighter Squadron (Provisional) flew a total of 1,729 combat sorties during Operation Desert Storm. A total mission rate of over 90% was achieved, which was quite a remarkable feat.
Post Cold War era
Early in the 1990s with the declared end of the Cold War and the continued decline in military budgets, the Air Force restructured to meet changes in strategic requirements, decreasing personnel, and a smaller infrastructure. The 169th adopted the new USAF "Objective Organization" in early 1992, with the word "tactical" being eliminated from its designation and becoming the 169th Fighter Group. Tactical Air Command was inactivated on 1 June, being replaced by the new Air Combat Command.