A
MID A SEA of plain gray
ghter aircraft, bright
paint always catches the
attention. The striking
yellow tail of F-16CM serial
90-0731 from the 112th
Fighter Squadron ‘Stingers’ of the Ohio
Air National Guard is signi cant. The
aircraft was adorned in 2017 to mark
the squadron’s 100th anniversary — a
milestone that’s being reached by a
number of US Air Force units and a
landmark that 112th FS commander
Lt Col Gregory Barasch did not
want to miss.
The 112th Aero Squadron was formed
in 1917 at Kelly Field, Texas. The markings
on ‘731’ are a tribute to various types
own by the unit across the ages — anamalgamation of the bright yellow
tails that adorned its Consolidated PT-1
primary trainers in the late 1920s, the
lightning bolt that featured on the unit’s
North American F-51 Mustangs post-
World War Two, and the arrow through
a map of the state of Ohio on the n
that dates from its Republic F-84s in the
1950s and ‘60s.
The present picture at Toledo Express
Airport, where the 112th is based as
part of the 180th Fighter Wing, sees the
squadron ying a eet of pristine Block 42
F-16C/Ds tted with the Pratt & Whitney
F100-PW-229 engine. ‘Our F-16s are the
lowest-hour Block 40/42s in the CAF
[Combat Air Forces]’, says Barasch. While
they aren’t the newest airframes, they
have the lowest service life on the guard’sThe 112th FS has been celebrating its 100th anniversary while
maintaining a busy schedule both at home and on the road as
one of the Air National Guard’s premier fi ghter squadrons.REPORT Jamie Hunter PHOTOS Jim Haseltine
The 112th FS
commander’s
jet, 89-0112, is
decked out in
the new dark
gray scheme.
Here it fl ies with
the centenary
aircraft, 90-0731.books and will continue to serve for many
years to come. ‘Our original Block 42s had
the -220 motor, but we picked up new jets
from the Iowa unit in Des Moines in 2005
with the -229s’. Barasch says there’s a huge
improvement with the newer engine, and
the -220 jets now reside in training units.
‘All the combat-coded squadrons have the
newer engine now. It’s comparable to the
General Electric engine in the Block 50 in
terms of thrust.’Guard duty
Barasch is typical of the experience found
at a guard squadron, having been ying
the F-16 since 2000. He started his career
ying in Alaska with the active-duty
component, graduated from the Weapons
School at Nellis AFB, Nevada, and spent
time in Japan and on operational test
duty in Florida. He then joined the Iowa
ANG before moving to Ohio. ‘We have
quite a bit of experience here, including
drill-status guardsmen who have regular
civilian jobs too. With about 1,000
personnel in the wing, we have around
400 full-time members. They all maintainhttp://www.combataircraft.net // May 2018 73
72-79 OHIO Vipers C.indd 73 20/03/2018 10:57