RAF Bentwaters - History - 81st Tactical Fighter Wing

81st Tactical Fighter Wing

The 81st Fighter-Interceptor Wing became the new host unit at Bentwaters in September 1951. The 81st, in various designations, remained at RAF Bentwaters for over 40 years during the Cold War era. The 81st FIW was an F-86A "Sabre" equipped unit, being activated at Moses Lake AFB, Washington in May, 1950. In August 1951, the 81st flew initially into RAF Shepherds Grove, then in September transferred its headquarters to RAF Bentwaters.

The 81st FIW's operational squadrons were:

• 91st Fighter-Interceptor (Blue)
• 92d Fighter-Interceptor (Yellow)
• 116th Fighter-Interceptor (Red)

Markings of the 81st FIW's F-86s consisted of a blue vertical stabilizer with three yellow lighting flashes, with the squadron color painted with a lightning flash along the fuselage.

The 116th FIS was an activated Washington Air National Guard squadron that remained at Shephards Grove while assigned to the 81st. In November 1952 when the squadron was returned to state control, it was redesignated the 78th Fighter-Interceptor squadron.

The 78th FIS moved to RAF Sculthorpe in May 1956. The 78th briefly returned to Shepherds Grove in May 1957 before being reassigned to RAF Woodbridge in December 1958 when the USAF turned Shepherds Grove to the Ministry of Defense.

The mission of the 81st FIW was to provide air defence of the United Kingdom. It performed this mission jointly with the RAF, working with No 11 Group RAF Fighter Command. The wing was the first unit of F-86's assigned to NATO and the first foreign air unit to participate in the peacetime air defense of Great Britain.

In October 1954 the mission of the 81st changed from fighter-interceptor to fighter-bomber operations, carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. The wing was charged with tactical operations in support of USAFE and NATO, with air defense as a secondary mission. To reflect this change, the unit was redesignated the 81st Fighter-Bomber Wing and traded in its F-86s for the F-84F "Thunderstreak".

On 8 July 1958 Bentwaters was operated as "twin base" with RAF Woodbridge and as a single unit under the newly-designated 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. Along with the 91st and 92d squadrons, the 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron was transferred from RAF Shepherds Grove when the USAF returned Shepherds Grove to the Ministry of Defense. The 78th TFS operated from Woodbrige, while the 91st and 92d squadrons operated from Bentwaters.

Beginning in the fall of 1958, the 81st TFW was requipped with the McDonnell F-101A/C "Voodoo". The F-101 was configured as a fighter bomber, intended to carry a single nuclear weapon for use against battlefield targets such as airfields. The Voodos were equipped with Low Angle Drogued Delivery (LADD) and Low Altitude Bombing System (LABS) equipment for its primary mission of delivering nuclear weapons at extremely low altitudes. Pilots were trained for one-way missions into Soviet territory to increase effective range at some cost in negating pilot recovery.

In November 1965, the 81st received McDonnell F-4 "Phantom II"s to replace the Voodoos. Initially receiving the F-4C this was later upgraded to the more capable F-4D during late 1972 and 1973. About 1970, two-letter Tail Codes were used initially for squadron identification. The tail codes for the 81st TFW F-4s were:

• 78th Tactical Fighter - WR (Red tail stripe)
• 91st Tactical Fighter - WS (Blue tail stripe)
• 92d Tactical Fighter - WT (Yellow tail stripe)

In 1972, squadron tail codes were abolished, and a standard "WR" was used for all aircraft assigned to the 81st TFW.

The 81st began conversion to the Republic A-10 in June 1979. The A-10 being a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support (CAS) of ground forces by attacking tanks, armored vehicles, and other ground targets. With the A-10, the wing's mission changed to close air support and battlefield air interdiction in support of NATO ground forces.

It was decided to expand the 81st with six A-10 squadrons distributed over both Woodbridge and Bentwaters as follows:

• 78th Tactical Fighter (Woodbridge)
  (Received A-10s 3 June 1979)
• 91st Tactical Fighter (Woodbridge)
  (Received A-10s 24 August 1979)
• 92d Tactical Fighter (Bentwaters)
  (Received A-10s 25 June 1979)
• 509th Tactical Fighter (Activated 1 October 1979) (Woodbridge) (Grey tail stripe)
  (Received A-10s 1 October 1979)
• 510th Tactical Fighter (Activated 1 October 1978) (Bentwaters) (Purple tail stripe)
  (Received A-10s 1 October 1979)
• 511th Tactical Fighter (Activated 1 January 1980) (Bentwaters) (Black tail stripe)
  (Received A-10s 1 January 1980)

This arrangement continued until June 1988 when the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at RAF Alconbury became a Tactical Fighter Wing, and the 509th and 511th were transferred there on 1 June and 1 September, respectively.

With the transfer of the A-10s to Alconbury, the 527th Aggressor Squadron was transferred to Bentwaters. The mission of the 527th was to provide dissimiar air combat training for NATO pilots, using Soviet tactics. They flew the F-5 Freedom Fighter at Alconbury, however after 12 years of intense flying, by 1988 the fleet of aggressor F-5Es was getting rather worn out as a result of sustained exposure to the rigors of air combat maneuvering. It was decided to re-equip the squadron with F-16C Fighting Falcons when the squadron was assigned to Bentwaters.

The 527th AS flew its last F-5E sortie from Alconbury on 22 June 1988. On 14 July 1988 the squadron was transferred, transitioning to F-16Cs by mid-January 1989 at Bentwaters. However, in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the decision was made to terminate the entire USAF aggressor program. The 527th AS was inactivated on 30 September 1990.

An A-10 forward operating location was established at Sembach Air Base West Germany on 1 September 1978 when Det. 1, 81st Tactical Fighter Wing was activated. Revetments and a dozen hardened aircraft shelters were built and A-10A Single-seat forward air control versions began operations at Sembach during May 1979. Additional detachments were subsequently established at Leipheim, Alhorn and Norvenich Air Bases in West Germany. A-10's and support resources routinely rotated to these Forward Operating Locations from RAF Bentwaters for training and Tactical Evaluations. The C-130 rotating to the detachments was affectionately called "The Klong". In the event of war in the 1980s, the Bentwater A-10's were to fight from Germany, and Bentwaters would host F-16's from Nellis AFB and from Myrtle Beach AFB, South Carolina.