Luke Field/Air Force Base and 56th Fighter Wing Heritage Pamphlet ...

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25 May 2005 Contingent from Polish AF visited base after Poland bought 48
F-16s.
25 June 2005 Wildfires contained after burning 58,000 acres on range.
6 July 2005 Wing’s fleet grew by three jets when Republic of Singapore AF
unit at Cannon AFB, NM, inactivated and sent three jets to
425th Fighter Squadron.
15 July 2005 Over 70 near misses since 2000 prompted wing to call for
creation of special airspace rule.
29 August 2005 President George W. Bush visited base. It was third visit by a
sitting US President. President Gerald Ford visited on
14 November 1974 and President Bill Clinton on 11 September
1996.
4 September 2005 The first 54 of a contingent of 93 people from wing deployed to
Gulf Coast to aid in relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina which
damaged 95 percent of facilities at Keesler AFB.
15 September 2005 President Bush endorsed BRAC commission’s recommendations
for base closures and realignments. Wing to lose 22 jets as well
as 425 positions. However, which jets the wing was to lose was
to be decided on by wing officials.
15 September 2005 Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP) began;
designed to upgrade selected systems on Block 42 jets to Block
52 capabilities.
21 September 2005 56th Medical Group contingent deployed to Dominica and
treated 3,000.
23 September 2005 Base’s two main gates closed indefinitely for force protection and
due to personnel shortfalls caused by hurricane relief and
Southwest Asia deployments.
28 September 2005 Services terminated at 56th Medical Group ambulatory
procedures unit and operating rooms.
29 September 2005 Services terminated at 56th Medical Group extended hours clinic
and podiatry.
19 October 2005 Women’s Health Clinic closed.
8 November 2005 BRAC commission’s recommendations passed into law by
Congress.
14 November 2005 First basic course air-to-ground exercise held at Gila Bend
utilizing bare-base environment for students to gain experience in
flying/fighting from undeveloped sites.