If you follow USAF aviation closely, you know this week is a big week in the service’s history. While you might have noticed the C-17’s first flight anniversary earlier this week, or know that the USAF’s 68th birthday is right around the corner, you might not know about another momentous cause for celebration at a history-making unit at the top of CONUS, on the edge of Lake Superior.
It was on September 17, 1948 that a small group of 37 enlisted personnel and 13 officers gathered at the Duluth, Minnesota airport for the official establishment of the 179th Fighter Squadron. The “Bulldogs” initially fell under the command of the 133rd Fighter Wing (now the 133rd Airlift Wing) at Minneapolis-St. Paul, but in 1960 the newly formed 148th Fighter Group (and later 148th Fighter Wing) assumed control of the 179FS.
The Bulldogs’ first fighter whip was the legendary North American F-51D Mustang which soldiered on until the 179th entered the jet age in 1954 with the arrival of the Lockheed F-94 Starfire, an all-weather interceptor.
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If you follow USAF aviation closely, you know this week is a big week in the service’s history. While you might have noticed the C-17’s first flight anniversary earlier this week, or know that the USAF’s 68th birthday is right around the corner, you might not know about another momentous cause for celebration at a history-making unit at the top of CONUS, on the edge of Lake Superior.
It was on September 17, 1948 that a small group of 37 enlisted personnel and 13 officers gathered at the Duluth, Minnesota airport for the official establishment of the 179th Fighter Squadron. The “Bulldogs” initially fell under the command of the 133rd Fighter Wing (now the 133rd Airlift Wing) at Minneapolis-St. Paul, but in 1960 the newly formed 148th Fighter Group (and later 148th Fighter Wing) assumed control of the 179FS.
The Bulldogs’ first fighter whip was the legendary North American F-51D Mustang which soldiered on until the 179th entered the jet age in 1954 with the arrival of the Lockheed F-94 Starfire, an all-weather interceptor.
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