HISTORY OF THE 20 FIGHTER GROUP - Shaw Air Force Base

Subordinancy to the Fourteenth Air Force was short lived. On 1 August 1950 the wing was reassigned directly under
Tactical Air Command. Ninth Air Force resumed control over the 20 th on 22 January 1951. Control was swapped back to
Tactical Air Command on 1 December 1951, just after the wing’s relocation from Shaw to Langley AFB, Virginia. At
Langley, the wing began flying new Republic F-84Gs in addition to F-84Ds. An internal change during the wing’s short
stay at Shaw Field featured the 3 November 1949 inactivation of the 20 th Finance Disbursing Unit.
The 20 th Goes Nuclear
The 20 th FBW moved to Langley AFB, Virginia on 19 September 1951.
Earlier a cadre of seven members of the 20 th had spent time at Langley
secretly learning the ins and outs of nuclear weapons delivery. There they
worked out procedures for accomplishing this using their soon to be assigned
F-84Gs. One big hurdle would be to develop procedures for navigation to the
target, on average 700 miles, without navigation aids of any kind with the
exception of the compass. With the 20 th ’s move to Langley the procedures
developed by the initial cadre would be passed on to the rest of the wing. As
told by Col. George M. Lunsford USAF (Ret), Col. Dunning said we would be
the world’s first atomic fighter outfit. We’d move up to Langley in the autumn
of ‘51, pick up more than a hundred new airplanes, and reorganize
completely. We’d learn to drop that [darn] bomb and get away. And we would
do it all by the spring of ‘52 because we were going back to England again.
In true 20 th tradition they became fully trained in this new mission and the 20 th
moved to England to add to the growing deterrent of Soviet aggression.
Move to Wethersfield May 1952
The 20 th FBW made its second move, this time overseas to RAF Wethersfield in Essex, England, on 1 June 1952. Its
fighter bomber group set up headquarters, along with the 55 th and 77 th
FBSs, at Wethersfield a day later. Restricted space there compelled the
79 th FBS to move into RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, England, on the same
day. (The squadron moved to RAF Woodbridge, three miles southeast of
Bentwaters, on 1 October 1954.) On 5 June, Tactical Air Command
relinquished control over the wing to the Third Air Force and the United
States Air Forces in Europe.
20 FBW F-84G aircraft at Bluie West One, Greenland
heading to England Summer 1952.
On 15 November 1952, the wing and group merged their headquarters
through internal reorganization, thus unofficially dissolving the group and
placing the flying squadrons directly under the wing’s operational and
administrative control. The group remained on the Air Force’s active list
however, until 8 February 1955 when the three fighter bomber squadrons
were officially realigned under the wing.
Wing Bestowed With Group’s Heritage
The Department of the Air Force temporarily bestowed the lineage
and honors of the 20 th Group on the 20 th Wing in November 1954.
That action was accomplished to facilitate the Air Force’s adoption of
a wing base plan, making the wing the primary combat element of
operational organizations. Consequent to the action of temporary
bestowal, the 20 th FBW laid claim to the lineage, honors, and history
of the 20 th FG. That bestowal has remained in effect ever since. The
20 th has been very fortunate to have kept its original squadrons
throughout its history since the 79 th joined the 55 th and 77 th in 1933.
As far as this historian has been able to determine the 20 th is the
only unit to still have its original squadrons.
In June 1955, the wing began flying F-84F Thunderstreaks in
addition to its F-84Ds and F-84Gs. The F-84G was phased out by
June 1955 and the F-84F remained in the inventory until December
1957.
Nuclear capable F-84G of the 55th Fighter Bomber
Squadron at RAF Wethersfield, England.
F-84F of the 77th FBS at RAF Wethersfield. Photo by R. L. Ward