51st Fighter Wing

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Today's 51st Fighter Wing activated on 18 August 1948 at Naha AFB and absorbed the resources of the 301st Fighter Wing, to include the 51st Fighter Group. The 51st FW became a "fighter-interceptor" wing in 1950. It entered combat service flying the F-80C Shooting Star in the Korean War on 22 September of that year, when it moved to Itazuke AB, Japan, to support the breakout of the U.S. Eighth Army from the Pusan Perimeter. For nearly 4 years thereafter, the 51st FIW played a key role in the defense of South Korea despite moving to four different locations within a year and operating under austere conditions. In November 1951 the 51st FIW transitioned to the F-86 Sabre with two squadrons, adding a third squadron the following May. The 51 FIW's war record was impressive. Wing pilots flew more than 45,000 sorties and shot down 312 MiG-15s; this produced 14 air aces including the top ace of the war, Captain Joseph C. McConnell. The ratio of aerial victories to losses was 10 to 1. Unfortunately, the wing lost 32 pilots to enemy action; however, nine that became prisoners of war were repatriated later.

On 1 August 1954, the 51 FIW returned to Naha Air Base to resume air defense coverage of the Ryukyu Islands. At the same time, the wing demonstrated its mobility readiness in response to three regional crises. From August 1958 to January 1959, the 51 FIW deployed eight F-86Ds to Taiwan to fly combat air support missions for Nationalist Chinese forces after mainland Communist Chinese forces shelled the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu. Six years later, the wing deployed 12 F-102s to the Philippines and South Vietnam from August to October 1964 for air defense against possible Communist North Vietnamese air attacks. Finally, on 23 January 1968, North Korean naval forces seized the USS Pueblo. From January to February 1968, the 51st dispatched 12 F-102s to Suwon AB, South Korea. The 51 FIW ended almost 17 years of service in the Pacific from Naha when it inactivated on 31 May 1971.

Redesignated and activated as the 51st Air Base Wing on 1 November 1971, the 51st assumed the host responsibilities of the inactivated 6314th Support Wing at Osan AB, to include the Koon-ni range and a variety of remote sites. In the first of many changes in name and combat capability over the next 20 years, the 51 ABW became the 51st Composite Wing (Tactical) on 30 September 1974, when an F-4E fighter squadron and OV-10 tactical air support squadron were assigned. The defining changes of these decades included the addition of a squadron of A-10s on 1 January 1982, then based at Suwon AB; the transition from the F-4E to the F-16 in August 1988; and the assignment of a flight of turboprop C-12Js in August 1992.

On 1 October 1993, after a half-dozen name changes, the wing returned to its original and current designation as the 51st Fighter Wing. Since then, the 51st has stayed true to its proud heritage, ensuring the defense of South Korea as a proven combat force and as an able host ready to receive and integrate follow-on forces on the peninsula.

Source: 51 FW History Office