51st fighter interceptor wing at suwon, s

Suwon Air Base is a

Republic of Korea Air Force The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF; ko, 대한민국 공군; RR: ''Daehanminguk Gong-gun''), also known as the ROK Air Force or South Korean Air Force, is the aerial warfare service branch of South Korea, operating under the Ministry of N ...

(ROKAF) base near Suwon city.

Units

The base is home to the ROKAF's 10th Fighter Wing (제10전투비행단), comprising: *101st Fighter Squadron flying KF-5E/KF-5F/F-5F *153rd Fighter Squadron flying F-4E *201st Fighter Squadron flying KF-5E/KF-5F/F-5F The US ARMY 6th Battalion,

52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment The 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an air defense artillery regiment of the United States Army first organized in 1917 as a railway gun unit. It continued in that role unit 1943, when the regiment was broken in separate railway gun batta ...

operating Patriot missiles is stationed at the base.

History

Korean War

The base was originally established during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

as Suwon (K-13) Air Base and hosted

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

units. The base was evacuated on the night of 30 June 1950 in the face of the

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the '' Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General S ...

(KPA) attack, but the base was not occupied by the KPA until 2 July 1950. The base was recaptured on 24 September 1950 following the Inchon landings. The 811th Engineer Aviation Battalion arrived at the base on 1 October to repair the airfield and laid down PSP over the runway. The base was evacuated in the face of the Chinese Third Phase Campaign on 5 January 1951 and the base's buildings were destroyed. The base was recaptured on 28 January as part of Operation Thunderbolt and by 6 March, despite its poor condition, the base was used for the staging of F-86 patrols along the

Yalu River The Yalu River, known by Koreans as the Amrok River or Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between ...

and

Mig Alley "MiG Alley" was the name given by United Nations (UN) pilots during the Korean War to the northwestern portion of North Korea, where the Yalu River empties into the Yellow Sea. It was the site of numerous dogfights between UN fighter pilots and ...

. USAF units based at Suwon included: *

4th Fighter Wing The 4th Fighter Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command's Ninth Air Force. It is stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, where it is also the host unit. The wing is one of two Air Force uni ...

from 30 March-23 August 1951 *

8th Fighter Wing The United States Air Force 8th Fighter Wing is the host unit at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea and is assigned to Seventh Air Force. Seventh Air Force falls under Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). The Wing's 8th Operations Group is the suc ...

from 23 August 1951 – 20 October 1954 *

51st Fighter Wing The 51st Fighter Wing (51 FW) is a wing of the United States Air Force and the host unit at Osan Air Base, South Korea. The wing has been based entirely in the Far East during its entire existence, including its combat role as the ''51st Fighter ...

from 1 October 1951 – 26 July 1954 *

12th Fighter Squadron 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassie ...

operating P-51s in 1950 *

16th Fighter Squadron HV-016 is a former military unit of Norway, that was a part of the Home Guard. It was established after 1985 to "stop terror- or sabotage actions that could weaken or paralyze Norway's ability to mobilize its military and its ability to resist". ...

operating F-86Ds from 20 May 1951-July 1954 *

25th Fighter Squadron The 25th Fighter Squadron is part of the US Air Force's 51st Operations Group, 51st Fighter Wing, at Osan Air Base, South Korea. It operates the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft conducting close air support missions. Mission ...

operating F-86Ds from 1951 to 1954 *

35th Fighter Squadron The 35th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 8th Operations Group, stationed at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. The squadron operates the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority mis ...

operating P-51s in 1950 and operating F-80s from 1951 to 1952 and operating F-86F Sabrejets from 1953 to 1954 *

36th Fighter Squadron The 36th Fighter Squadron is part of the US Air Force's 51st Operations Group at Osan Air Base, South Korea. It operates the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting air superiority missions. The squadron was first activate ...

operating P-51s in 1950 and operating F-80s from 1951 to 1954 * 39th Fighter Squadron operating F-86Ds from 1952 to 1954 *

67th Fighter Squadron The 67th Fighter Squadron "Fighting Cocks" is a fighter squadron of the United States Air Force, part of the 18th Operations Group at Kadena Air Base, Japan. The 67th is equipped with the F-15C/D Eagle. Mission The 67th Fighter Squadron is one ...

operating P-51s in December 1950 *

68th Fighter Squadron The 68th Fighter Squadron was one of the longest-serving fighter squadrons in U.S. Air Force history, remaining active almost continually for 60 years. Known as the "Lightning Lancers", on the morning of 27 June 1950 pilots of the 68th Fighter-A ...

operating F-94s from March-19 April 1951, 23–27 June 1951 and 24 August 1951 – 23 March 1952 *

80th Fighter Squadron The 80th Fighter Squadron (traditionally nicknamed the "Headhunters", and since 1971 also the "Juvats") is a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter squadron of the United States Air Force, currently part of the 8th Operations Group of ...

operating F-80s and later F-86s from 24 August 1951 – 21 October 1954 * 319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron operating F-94Bs from 10 March 1952 – 17 August 1954 * 334th Fighter Squadron operating F-86s from 10 March-1 May 1951 * 335th Fighter Squadron operating F-86s from 1 May-1 August 1951 * 336th Fighter Squadron operating F-86s from 6 April-27 June 1951 On 17 June 1951, at 01:10 hours, Suwon was bombed by two

Korean People's Air Force The Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force (KPAAF; ; Hanja: 朝鮮人民軍航空 및 反航空軍 ) is the unified military aviation force of North Korea. It is the second largest branch of the Korean People's Army comprising an estimated ...

Polikarpov Po-2 The Polikarpov Po-2 (also U-2, for its initial ''uchebnyy'', 'training', role as a flight instruction aircraft) served as an all-weather multirole Soviet biplane, nicknamed ''Kukuruznik'' (russian: Кукурузник,Gunston 1995, p. 292. NA ...

s. Each biplane dropped a pair of fragmentation bombs. Two bombs burst on the flight line of the 335th Fighter Squadron. One F-86A, AF Ser. No. 49-1334 was struck on the wing and began burning; the fire took hold, gutting the aircraft. Eight other Sabres were also damaged in the attack. On 22 December 1952, a

Hellenic Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 8 November , equipment = , equipment_label ...

C-47D, Ser. No. 49-2612 was taxiing at Suwon Air Base when it was hit by USAF F-80, AF Ser. No. 49-0722, that was taking off, killing all 13 on board the C-47.

Postwar

USAF units based at Suwon included: *

operating A-10s from 1981 to 1989 * 82nd Fighter Squadron operating F-102s from 30 January-20 February 1968 as part of

Operation Combat Fox On 23 January 1968 North Korean patrol boats supported by two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighters captured the USS ''Pueblo'' northeast of the North Korean island of Ung-do. The seizure of the ''Pueblo'' led to President Lyndon Johnson ordering a s ...

and on rotation from 1968 to 1971 * 336th Fighter Squadron operating F-4s from 25 March – 17 April 1977

Accidents and incidents

On 10 October 1984, a corporately-owned

Northrop F-20 Tigershark The Northrop F-20 Tigershark (initially F-5G) is a light fighter, designed and built by Northrop. Its development began in 1975 as a further evolution of Northrop's F-5E Tiger II, featuring a new engine that greatly improved overall performa ...

, AF Ser. No. ''82-0062'', c/n GG1001, FAA registration ''N4416T'', on a world sales tour, crashed at Suwon, killing Northrop chief test pilot Darrell Cornell. During the last manoeuvre of the final demonstration flight, the aircraft stalled at the top of an erratic vertical climb and dove into the ground from .Peterson, Wayne, "''Tigershark!: The Freedom Fighter's Last Hurrah''", Wings, Woodland Hills, California, June 2006, Volume 36, Number 6, page 52. On 23 May 1996,

Captain Lee Chul-Su defected in

Shenyang J-6 The Shenyang J-6 ( Chinese: 歼-6; designated F-6 for export versions; NATO reporting name: Farmer) is the Chinese-built version of the Soviet MiG-19 'Farmer' fighter aircraft, the world's first mass-produced supersonic aircraft. Design and ...

#529, landing at Suwon. On 5 May 2006 Captain Kim Do-hyun of the ROKAF's Black Eagles display team was killed when he lost control of his A-37B Dragonfly during an air show. On 11 January 2022, Major Shim Jeong min from ROKAF's 10th Fighter Wing was killed due to engine fire in his KF-5E during training. He stayed in jet to avoid crashing into nearby village.

References

External links

{{authority control South Korean airbases Korean War air bases Buildings and structures in Suwon Transport in Suwon