HOME ARTICLES BOOKS CONTACT LINKS

			56 180th Fighter Wing Ohio Air National Guard The Stingers!
		Based at the Toledo-Express Airport in Swanton, Ohio, the 180th Fighter Wing has been in the Viper business since 1992. Their latest version of the Viper is the block 42.

The 180th Fighter Wing is one of two Ohio Air National Guard units flying the F-16C/D. Currently based at the Toledo-Express Airport, just outside Toledo, the unit was originally conceived as the 112th Fighter Squadron, which originated at Kelly Field, Texas, in 1917 as the 112th Aero Squadron, flying the PT-1, 0-2, and 0-11. This unit later went on to become the Ohio Air National Guard's 112th Observation Squadron in 1927 at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. After flying a wide variety of observation aircraft through the 1930's, the 112th was moved to Pope Field, North Carolina in November, 1940. Among its pilot ranks during this time was LtCol Addison Baker, who would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor as a B-24 Liberator pilot during the 1943 raids on the heavily-defended oil fields at Ploesti, Romania.

After serving in World War II and the Korean War, the 112th returned to Ohio, where it set up camp at Akron-Canton Airport, flying P-51 Mustangs as an Air National Guard Fighter-Bomber Squadron.

In 1955, the unit officially entered the Jet Age when it received the F-84 Thunderjet, and, at the same time, moved to its current home of Toledo. Shortly after, in 1962, the 112th would merge with the newly-formed 180th Tactical Fighter Group. They would fly the F-84 until 1971, when the F-100 Super Sabre arrived, which in turn was replaced by the A-7 Corsair II in 1979.

Currently equipped with the Block 42 version of the F-16C, the 180th Fighter Wing are more active than ever. Recent deployments have found them flying to Incirlik AB, Turkey, enforcing the Northern No-Fly Zone over Iraq in 1996, 1997, 1999, and again in 2000. Most recently, they have just returned from Iraq, participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom, alongside F-16s from the Oklahoma and Iowa ANG squadrons.

For the foreseeable future, the 180th Fighter Wing will continue to operate from Toledo as part of the Ohio Air National Guard, ready to deploy anywhere across the globe to defend the interests of the United States.

			These are very busy times for the Air National Guard, as the scorebord on these two 180th Fighter Wing machines can attest!
	(left) The crewchief of 90-0701 attends to his aircraft after an afternoon training flight.
		(right) 89-2165 is the only two-place F-16D assigned to the 180th Fighter Wing.
	(left) 89-2106 is refueled after a long day of flying.
			(right) 90-0700 sits on the Toledo ramp, awaiting its next mission.
				Two 180th Fighter Wing Vipers depart Toledo-Express Airport, bound for the bombing range.
	(left) 89-2112 receives some attention in the 180th FW hangar.
			(right) Many 180th FW Vipers are named for a local community. In this case, 89-2085 is named for the town of Swanton.

HOME ARTICLES BOOKS CONTACT LINKS