The 114th Fighter Wing (114 FW) is a unit of the

South Dakota Air National Guard The South Dakota Air National Guard (SD ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of South Dakota, United States of America. It is a reserve of the United States Air Force and along with the South Dakota Army National Guard an element of the So ...

, stationed at Joe Foss Field Air National Guard Station,

Sioux Falls Regional Airport Sioux Falls Regional Airport , also known as Joe Foss Field, is a public and military use airport three miles northwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. It is named in honor of aviator and Sioux Falls native Joe Foss, who later serve ...

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls ( ) is the List of cities in South Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the List of United States cities by population, 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha Coun ...

. If activated to federal service, the Wing is gained by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Air Combat Command The Air Combat Command (ACC) is one of nine List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Commands (MAJCOMs) in the United States Air Force, reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force (HAF) at the Pentagon. It is the prim ...

. The wing is an Air Combat Command gained

F-16C/D Fighting Falcon A large number of variants of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon have been produced by General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and various licensed manufacturers. The details of the F-16 variants, along with major modification programs and der ...

wing which deploys worldwide and executes fighter sorties to destroy enemy forces with conventional munitions.

Units

The 114th FW consists of the following units: * 114th Operations Group :

175th Fighter Squadron The 175th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the South Dakota Air National Guard 's 114th Operations Group stationed at Joe Foss Field Air National Guard Station, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The 175th is equipped with the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon. Hi ...

* 114th Maintenance Group * 114th Mission Support Group * 114th Medical Group

History

On 16 April 1956, the

175th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron The 175th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the South Dakota Air National Guard 's 114th Operations Group stationed at Joe Foss Field Air National Guard Station, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The 175th is equipped with the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon. Hist ...

was authorized to expand to a group level, and the 114th Fighter-Interceptor Group was established by the

National Guard Bureau The National Guard Bureau (NGB) is the federal agency responsible for the administration of the National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was c ...

. The 175th FIS became the group's flying squadron. Other squadrons assigned to the group were the 114th Headquarters, 114th Material Squadron (Maintenance), 114th Combat Support Squadron, and the 114th USAF Dispensary. During the 1950s and 1960s, the unit was upgraded by ADC as newer interceptors became available to the Air National Guard.

F-89 Scorpion The Northrop F-89 Scorpion is an all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the first jet-powered aircraft to be designed for the interceptor role f ...

s were received in 1958 and

F-102A Delta Dagger The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger is an interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Convair. A member of the Century Series, the F-102 was the first operational supersonic interceptor and Delta wing, delta-wing ...

supersonic aircraft in 1960.

Tactical Air Command

175th Tactical Fighter Squadron A-7D-7-CV Corsair II 70-0933

In 1970,

Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was establishe ...

was reducing the CONUS interceptor force, as the chances of a bomber attack by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

seemed remote in the age of

Intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

s (ICBM). The Group was transferred to

Tactical Air Command Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a List of Major Commands of the United States Air Force, Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Lang ...

(TAC) on 23 May 1970 and was re-designated as the 114th Tactical Fighter Group. The 175th Tactical Fighter Squadron began receiving

F-100 Super Sabre The North American F-100 Super Sabre is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft designed and produced by the aircraft manufacturer North American Aviation. The first of the Century Series of American jet fighters, it was the first United ...

tactical fighters that were being withdrawn from service in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. News was received in March 1976 of the replacement of the unit's F-100D aircraft with

A-7D Corsair II The LTV A-7 Corsair II is an American carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV). The A-7 was developed during the early 1960s as replacement for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Its design wa ...

jets. The last Super Sabres left Joe Foss Field in June 1977. In 1979, the unit began a 12-year era of participation in Operation Coronet Cove at

Howard AFB Howard Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Panama. It discontinued military operations on 1 November 1999 as a result of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which specified that US military facilities in the former P ...

providing for the defense of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. Both aircrew and support personnel were extended there in the summer of 1979 during the Nicaraguan crisis. The unit was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Streamer for combat duty as a part of

Operation Just Cause Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

during 1989–1990. Tactical Air Command began retiring the A-7D in the late 1980s, with units being transitioned from the A-7D/K to the F-16C/D block 30. The first F-16 to arrive with the 175th Fighter Squadron was on 14 August 1991. In June 1993 the squadron deployed eight aircraft to Brustem AB, Belgium as Coronet DART for the European exercise Central Enterprise 1993. In December 1993 the squadron deployed again, this time for their first combat deployment with the F-16. Stationed at Incirlik AB, Turkey the squadron flew missions over Northern Iraq to guard the no-fly zone to protect Kurdish refugees. Combat patrol missions were flown over the northern "No Fly" zone of Iraq during

Operation Provide Comfort Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations initiated by the United States and other Coalition nations of the Persian Gulf War, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurdish refugees fleeing their homes in northern ...

from December 1993 to January 1994. The 114th Fighter Group was re-designated as the 114th Fighter Wing in October 1995. The unit subsequently supported

Operation Northern Watch Operation Northern Watch (ONW), the successor to Operation Provide Comfort, was a Combined Task Force (CTF) charged with enforcing its own no-fly zone above the 36th parallel in Iraq. Its mission began on 1 January 1997. The coalition partn ...

, based out of Turkey in 1995 and 2002, and

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of moni ...

based out of Kuwait in 1998 and Saudi Arabia in 2001. The Fighting Lobos were also deployed to Belgium, Singapore, the Netherlands Antilles, and Israel.

Twenty-first century

A new chapter was opened in the history of the Air National Guard with the terrorist attacks on America on 11 September 2001. In addition to the unit's ongoing tasking as part of

Air Expeditionary Force An Air Expeditionary Task Force (AETF) is a deployed numbered air force (NAF) or command echelon immediately subordinate to an NAF that is provided as the U.S. Air Force component command committed to a joint operation. Notional AETF Composition ...

rotations, unit members were also activated to support

Operation Noble Eagle Operation Noble Eagle (ONE) is the United States and Canadian military operation related to homeland security and support to federal, state, and local agencies. The operation began 11 September 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks.. ...

within the United States and

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used by the U.S. government for both the first stage (2001–2014) of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response ...

. The unit also deployed to Iraq three times, to Balad AB, Iraq (October–December 2006; June–September 2008; January–April 2010. Unit members also deployed to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Cyprus, Pakistan, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Spain, France and Germany. On 25 October 2005, an F-16 of the unit was attempting to take fuel from a

McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an American tanker and cargo aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1981 to 2024. A military version of the three-engine DC-10 airliner, the KC-10 was developed from the A ...

, when the boom operator's accidental oscillation caused damages to both aircraft, which were able to land safely. The jet suffered more than $930,000 of damage, an unusual accident for a squadron that has enjoyed a tremendous safety record. In 2007, the squadron received the National Guard Bureau's Winston P. Wilson Trophy, an annual award for the most outstanding Air National Guard unit. The squadron won the trophy again in 2010. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended that the 175th Fighter Squadron retire its older block 30 F-16s and upgrade to the block 40. The first F-16C block 30 to depart was 'Cujo' aircraft (#85-1434), which occurred on 7 May 2010 with destination AMARG. Over the next five months, they received block 40 Vipers from all three squadrons at

Hill AFB Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in Davis County, Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adja ...

, Utah which were largely as a result of the closure of the

34th Fighter Squadron The 34th Fighter Squadron is part of the United States Air Force's 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. On 2 August 2016, the Air Force announced that the 34th had become the first squadron to achieve initial operating capability ...

. In 2020 the wing trained in Canada during Exercise

Maple Flag Exercise Maple Flag is an annual air combat exercise carried out from CFB Cold Lake over the co-located Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR). It is among the largest such exercises in the world, lasting four weeks, split into two two-week "phases". ...

. In June 2023, the 114th FW deployed to Northern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and participated in exercise

Air Defender 23 Air Defender 23 is the name of a major maneuver of armed forces of member states of NATO and other European countries in European airspace in 2023. It lasted 10 days, from 12 June to 23 June 2023. Although Air Defender 23 was not an exercise of N ...

Lineage

* Constituted as the 114th Fighter-Interceptor Group, and allotted to the Air National Guard on 15 April 1956 : Activated on 16 April 1956 and extended federal recognition : Redesignated 114th Tactical Fighter Group on 23 May 1970 : Redesignated 114th Fighter Group on 15 March 1992 : Redesignated 114th Fighter Wing on 11 October 1995

Assignments

* 133d Air Defense Wing, 16 April 1956 * 132d Air Defense Wing, 1 December 1957 *

, 1 August 1964 * 132d Tactical Fighter Wing, 23 May 1970 * South Dakota Air National Guard, 16 October 1995 ; Gaining Commands ::

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for air defense of the continental United States. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air De ...

(later Aerospace Defense Command), 16 April 1956 ::

, 23 May 1970 ::

, 1 June 1992 – present

Components

* 114th Operations Group, 11 October 1995 – present * 175th Fighter-Interceptor (later Tactical Fighter, Fighter) Squadron, 16 April 1956 – 11 October 1995

Stations

* Sioux Falls Municipal Airport (later Sioux Falls Regional Airport, Joe Foss Field Air National Guard Station, South Dakota, 16 April 1956 – present

Aircraft

* F-94C Starfire, 1956–1958 *

F-89D Scorpion The Northrop F-89 Scorpion is an all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the first jet-powered aircraft to be designed for the interceptor role f ...

, 1958–1960 * F-89J Scorpion, 1960 * F/TF-102 Delta Dagger, 1960–1970 *

F-100D/F Super Sabre The North American F-100 Super Sabre is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft designed and produced by the aircraft manufacturer North American Aviation. The first of the Century Series of American jet fighters, it was the first United S ...

, 1970–1977 * A-7D/K Corsair II, 1977–1992 * Block 30 F-16C/D Fighting Falcon, 1991–2010 * Block 40 F-16C/D Fighting Falcon, 2010–Present

Deployments

Operation Coronet Nighthawk Operation Coronet Nighthawk (1990–2001) was one of many operations that took place in the early 1990s to stop the drugs coming into the United States from Central and South America. The idea of the operation was to have a rotational deployment ope ...

Operation Freedom's Sentinel Operation Freedom's Sentinel (OFS) was the official name used by the U.S. government for the mission succeeding Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in continuation of the War in Afghanistan as part of the larger Global War on Terrorism. Operation ...

* Operation Resolute Support *

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

Operation Inherent Resolve {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Operation Inherent Resolve , partof = the international military intervention against the Islamic State and the War on terror , image = , caption = U.S. Navy B ...

References

* A Handbook of Aerospace Defense Organization 1946–1980, by Lloyd H. Cornett and Mildred W. Johnson, Office of History, Aerospace Defense Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado * Rogers, B. (2006). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978.
175th Fighter Squadron Lineage and History

114th Fighter Wing history webpage

External links

114th Fighter Wing Official Website

{{South Dakota Wings of the United States Air National Guard Organizations based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

114 114 may refer to: *114 (number) *AD 114 *114 BC *114 (1st London) Army Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, an English military unit *114 (Antrim Artillery) Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, a Northern Irish military unit *114 (MBTA bus) *114 (New Je ...

Military units and formations in South Dakota Military units and formations established in 1995