combat aircraft

BRINGING YOU THE LATEST TALK

FROM AROUND THE SQUADRONS

BY

SCOTT WOLFF

‘BADGER AIR MILITIA’

Training Committee this spring, becoming

a cornerstone event of the National Guard

Bureau’s regional exercise program. The

Combat Readiness Training Center at Volk

Field, up Interstate 90 from Madison, is

becoming a preferred venue for cross-

domain, full-spectrum training.

The wing also received notiication

this past December that it has become

a preferred candidate base for the bed-

down of the F-35A Lightning II. Pending

a favorable outcome to an upcoming

environmental impact analysis, the 115th

will become only the second Air National

Guard unit to ield the nation’s newest

ifth-generation ighter. It will also become

the irst unit to employ the F-35A in the

aerospace control alert mission.

‘With all the time we have spent looking

forward in order to prepare ourselves to

be the best location for the F-35 mission,

A

SK ANYONE IN aviation

photojournalism and

they will tell you they are

routinely humbled by

the places they’ve had

the privilege of visiting,

and units whose vision they’ve been

honored to serve. I am certainly no

diferent, and in recent memory the

opportunity to work with the Wisconsin

Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing

certainly stands out.

This year, the unit celebrates its 70th

anniversary, a signiicant milestone in

an age where many a unit has been

closed down or had its mission changed.

One can measure the importance and

esteem of the 115th FW based on events

in the last year alone.

Exercise ‘Northern Lightning’ received

accreditation through the Joint National

The 115th FW

will become

the second Air

National Guard

unit to field the

F-35A.

Jamie Hunter

it is now the perfect time to relect on our

history and how we got to where we are,’

says Col Kevin Philpot, vice-commander

of the 115th FW — known locally as the

‘Badger Air Militia’.

Origins

The 176th Fighter Squadron was formed

at Truax Field in September 1948, with

federal recognition coming on October 6

of that year. In the mid-summer of 1950,

the unit’s members were poised for their

annual training, scheduled to take place

in late July — however, hostilities ensued

on the Korean peninsula and the unit was

ordered to provide 10 of its complement

of 25 F-51 Mustangs for shipment to Korea

to support the war efort.

On February 1, 1951, the 176th FS was

activated in-place at Truax Field, assigned

to Air Defense Command to bolster its

TURNS 70

22 November 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net