At Ease - Wisconsin National Guard Department of Military Affairs

py Anniversary!
2008 marked the 60th anniversary of
Madison’s 115th Fighter Wing, based at
Truax Field, Madison. It was organized
as the 176th Fighter Squadron, an F-51
Mustang unit, in 1948.
Over the intervening years, the unit has
grown from a squadron to a wing of roughly
1,000 personnel and has flown a wide variety
of aircraft:
• F-51 Mustang
• F-89 Scorpion
• F-86 Sabre
• F-89 Scorpion — again!
• F-102 Delta Dagger
• O-2 Skymaster observation plane
• OA-37 Dragonfly observation plane
• A-10 Thunderbolt (also known as
“Warthog”)
•
F-16 Fighting Falcon
Since 9/11, the wing and its F-16s have
been in high demand for real-world missions
at home and abroad. But amid the rush and
clamor of today’s high-optempo environment,
At Ease gladly devotes a couple of pages
to celebrating this 60-year-old unit and
remembering how far it has come.
Madison’s “Rhythm and Booms” fireworks illuminate the night sky behind
an F-16 on June 28, 2008, during the 60th year of the 115th Fighter Wing.
Photo courtesy of Joe Oliva
In 1974 the 176th Fighter Squadron became a tactical air support squadron with a forward air controller mission when it switched from the
F-102 Delta Dagger to the O-2 Skymaster observation aircraft. The unit came back into the jet age five years later with a transition to the
OA-37 Dragonfly, shown here in foreground. In 1981, the 176th became the 128th Tactical Fighter Wing, returning to a fighter role with the
much larger A-10 Thunderbolt, in background, an effective close air support fighter. The 128th would fly the A-10, widely known as the “Warthog”,
until 1992, when it converted to the F-16.
March 2009 73