124th Fighter Squadron

124th Fighter Squadron
124th Fighter Squadron F-16 87-230
Active	25 February 1941-Present
Country	United States
Allegiance	Iowa
Branch	Air National Guard
Type	Squadron
Role	Attack
Part of	Iowa Air National Guard
Garrison/HQ	Des Moines Air National Guard Base, Iowa
Nickname(s)	"Hawkeyes"
Tail Code	Red & Yellow (checkerboard) tail stripe "IA"
Engagements	World War II
Insignia
124th Fighter Squadron emblem

The 124th Fighter Squadron (124 FS) is a unit of the Iowa Air National Guard 132d Fighter Wing. It is assigned to Des Moines Air National Guard Base, Iowa and was formerly equipped with F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The unit is scheduled to transition to the operation of unmanned aerial aircraft.

The squadron is a descendant organization of the 124th Observation Squadron, established on 30 July 1940. It is one of the 29 original National Guard Observation Squadrons of the United States Army National Guard formed before World War II.

Efforts to form an Iowa National Guard aviation unit in Des Moines were led by a citizens’ committee, which was formed in May 1940, to arrange for construction of an aircraft hangar and armory building at the Des Moines Airport. This non-profit committee consisted of local business, civic and military leaders. Through the work of this committee, which included conferences in Washington DC, and design and financing of the project, an Air Corps squadron for Des Moines was authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1941. Recruiting of members for the new unit began the following month. The 124th Observation Squadron was organized on 25 February 1941 with an allotted strength of 31 officers and 116 enlisted personnel.

The 124th was a light observation squadron, flying North American O-47 twin-seat observation monoplanes. Ordered to active service in September was initially an aviation unit at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as part of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. After the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, was attached to Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command and deployed to several airfields along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, flying Antisubmarine patrols, Apr 1942-Jan 1943. After the Navy took over the antisubmarine mission performed replacement reconnaissance pilot training, Mar 1943-Apr 1944 at Tullaholma, Tennessee with P-39 Airacobra, P-40 Warhawk and P-51 Mustangs. Inactivated as part of an administrative reorganization of training units in May 1944.