457th Fighter Squadron

457th Fighter Squadron
Emblem of the 457th Fighter Squadron
Active	1944-June 1949; 1972–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force/AFRC
Role	Fighter
Part of	301st Fighter Wing 12th Air Force
Garrison/HQ	NAS Fort Worth JRB (formerly Carswell AFB)
Nickname(s)	Spads
Motto(s)	Spad to the Bone

The 457th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) unit, assigned to the 301st Operations Group. Stationed at Carswell Field, Texas, the squadron flies the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

The 457th FS is part of the only Air Force Reserve unit in the state of Texas. Since 11 September 2001, 301st Fighter Wing units and individual personnel in various career fields have supported a number of missions related to Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Noble Eagle's homeland defense, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 457th FS ended a two-month deployment to Balad AB in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in December 2005.

The aircraft of the 457th FS carry the base tail code TX on their F-16s. The tail code carried by 457th TFS aircraft when the NAS JRB Fort Worth was known as Carswell AFB was TF.

Trained in the continental United States, Oct 1944-Feb 1945. Moved to western Pacific Ocean in spring of 1945. Escorted B-29 bombers in raids against Japan, and attacked targets such as enemy airfields, May-Aug 1945. Between 1953 and 1959, and again since July 1972, trained for a variety of tactical air missions. Frequently deployed for training exercises, some of them overseas.

Took part in Operation Deny Flight, enforcing a no-fly zone over Bosnia, in mid-1990s. Participated in training exercises and deployments. Provided resources for Operations Northern Watch (1999-2000), Southern Watch (2001), Noble Eagle (2001-), and Iraqi Freedom (2003-).

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.