4th Fighter Wing | |
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F-15E Strike Eagle Team, 4th Fighter Wing
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Active | 1942–1945, 1946-1957, 1991-present |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Type | Wing |
Part of | Air Combat Command |
Garrison/HQ | Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina |
Motto(s) | Fourth But First |
Engagements | |
Decorations | |
Commanders | |
Current commander |
Col. Christopher Sage |
Notable commanders |
Walker M. Mahurin John C. Meyer Chuck Yeager Robert C. Richardson III Hal M. Hornburg Lance L. Smith Jeannie Leavitt Norman R. Seip |
Insignia | |
4th Fighter Wing emblem(approved 7 October 1952) |
The 4th Fighter Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Ninth Air Force. It is stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, where it is also the host unit.
The wing is one of three Air Force units that can trace its history to another country. The wing's 4th Operations Group had its origins as the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons (Nos. 71, 121 and 133 Squadrons). When the United States entered World War II, these units, and the American pilots in them, were transferred to the United States Army Air Forces VIII Fighter Command, forming the 4th Fighter Group on 12 September 1942.
The 4th Fighter Group was the first fighter group to use belly tanks, the first to penetrate Germany, the first to accompany bombers to Berlin, the first to accomplish the England-to-Russia shuttle and the first to down jet fighters. The group was credited with the destruction of 1,016 (including strafing kills) enemy aircraft, more than any other American fighter unit, and produced 38 aces.
The current commander of the 4th Fighter Wing is Colonel Christopher Sage [1]
The wing consists of four active duty groups—4th Maintenance Group, 4th Mission Support Group, 4th Operations Group and 4th Medical Group—and is assigned over 6,400 military members, about 600 civilians and 95 F-15E Strike Eagles. An additional organization, the 414th Fighter Group (414 FG) of the Air Force Reserve Command, is an Air Force Reserve "associate" unit to the 4th Fighter Wing, with its flight crews and maintenance crews flying, maintaining and supporting the same F-15E aircraft as their active duty counterparts.