80th Flying Training Wing

80th Flying Training Wing
290px T-6A Texan II (left) T-38C Talon (right) of 80th Flying Training Wing
Active	1942-1945; 1972–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Training
Part of	Air Education and Training Command
Garrison/HQ	Sheppard Air Force Base
Nickname(s)	Burma Banshees (WW II)
Motto	Angels on Our Wings (WW II)
Engagements	Burma Campaign 1944-1945
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Commanders
Commander	Colonel Gregory S. Keeton
Vice-Commander	Colonel Vacant
Command Chief Master Sergeant	Chief Master Sergeant Joseph D. Pritchard
Insignia
80th Flying Training Wing emblem

File:ENJJPT logo.png

Euro-NATO Joint Pilot Training Program Logo

The 80th Flying Training Wing (80 FTW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The 80th FTW is home of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) Program. ENJJPT, established in the spirit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is the world's only multi-nationally manned and managed flying training program chartered to produce combat pilots for NATO.

Components

80th Operations Group (80 OG)

The 80th OG provides operational support, flying training, air traffic control and evaluation of 256 student pilots and 110 instructor pilot candidates, as well as Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals for more than 145 trainees annually. The group oversees seven squadrons – 80th Operations Support Squadron, 88th Fighter Training Squadron, 89th Flying Training Squadron, 90th Flying Training Squadron, 97th Flying Training Squadron, 459th Flying Training Squadron, and 469th Flying Training Squadron – that train and support undergraduate pilots from NATO countries.

• 80th Operations Support Squadron (80 OSS)
• 88th Fighter Training Squadron (88 FTS)
• 89th Flying Training Squadron (89 FTS) T-6A Texan II
• 90th Flying Training Squadron (90 FTS) T-38C Talon (Blue/Yellow tail stripe)
• 97th Flying Training Squadron (97 FTS)
• 459th Flying Training Squadron (459 FTS) T-6A Texan II
• 469th Flying Training Squadron (469 FTS) T-38C Talon (Green tail stripe)

History

Lineage

• Established as the 80 Pursuit Group (Interceptor) on 13 January 1942

Activated on 9 February 1942

Redesignated 80 Fighter Group (Single Engine) on 15 May 1942

Inactivated on 3 November 1945

• Consolidated (31 January 1984) with the 80 Flying Training Wing, which was established on 23 May 1972

Activated on 1 January 1973 by redesignation of the 3630th Flying Training Wing*

*Redesignated as part of ATC program to replace four-digit MAJCOM wings with two-digit wings with a combat lineage. The 3630th FTW was activated at Sheppard on 10 December 1965 to provide UPT for the West German Air Force.

Assignments

• III Interceptor (later, III Fighter) Command, 9 February 1942
• First Air Force, 20 June 1942
• I Fighter Command, 4 July 1942
• New York Air Defense Wing, 11 August 1942 – 10 May 1943
• Tenth Air Force, 28 June 1943
• American Air Command 1 (later, 5320 Air Defense Wing [Provisional]), September 1943

• Tenth Air Force, 20 June 1944
• Army Air Forces, India-Burma Theater, c. 1 August-9 October 1945
• New York Port of Embarkation, 1–3 November 1945
• Air Training Command, 1 January 1973
• Nineteenth Air Force, 1 July 1993–present

Components

Groups

• 80 Operations: 2 January 1998–present

Squadrons

• 88 Pursuit (later, 88 Fighter; 88 Flying Training) Squadron: 9 February 1942 – 3 November 1945; 1 January 1973-2 January 1998.
• 89 Pursuit (later, 89 Fighter; 89 Flying Training) Squadron: 9 February 1942 – 3 November 1945; 1 January 1973-2 January 1998.
• 90 Pursuit (later, 90 Fighter; 90 Flying Training) Squadron: 9 February 1942 – 3 November 1945; 1 January 1973-2 January 1998.
• 459 Fighter Squadron: 1 September 1943 – 5 November 1945.

Stations

• Selfridge Field, Michigan 9 February 1942 – 5 July 1942
• Farmingdale, New York 5 July 1942 – 9 March 1943
• Mitchel Field, New York, 9 March 1943 – 30 April 1943
• Karachi Airport, India, 28 June 1943 – October 1943
• Nagaghuli Airfield, India, October 1943 – 29 August 1944
• Tingkawk Sakan Airfield, Burma, 29 August 1944 – 20 January 1945

• Myitkyina Airfield, Burma, 20 January 1945 – 24 May 1945
• Dudhkundi Airfield, India, 24 May 1945 – 6 October 1945
• Camp Kilmer, New Jersey 1–3 November 1945
• Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas (1 January 1973–present)

Aircraft operated

• P-47 Thunderbolt (1942–1945)
• P-40 Warhawk (1943–1944)
• P-38 Lightning (1943–1944)
• T-37B Tweet (1973–2009)

• T-38 Talon (1973 – present)
• AT-38B Talon (1993–2006)
• T-6A Texan II (2008 – present)

Operations in World War II

The 80th Pursuit Group (Interceptor) was constituted on 13 January 1942 and activated on February 1942. It was redesignated as the 80th Fighter Group in May 1942. During World War II, the group was the first USAAF unit to be stationed in Burma after the Allied retreat in 1942. During its two years in combat, this group, which called itself the Burma Banshees, kept the supply lines open to China while clearing the way for Allied forces and US Army units such as Merrill's Marauders to sweep Japanese forces from northern Burma.

The 80th trained for combat and served as part of the defense force for the northeastern United States from, 1942–1943. It's flying squadrons were the 88th, 89th, and 90th Pursuit (later Fighter) Squadrons. It first trained with the P-47 Thunderbolt and later in the Curtis P-40.

The 80th sailed for India, via Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and Ceylon, in May 1943, commencing combat operations in the China-Burma-India theater in September 1943. The group supported Allied ground forces during the battle for northern Burma and the push southward to Rangoon, bombing and strafing troop concentrations, supply dumps, lines of communication, artillery positions, and other objectives.

The 80th was assigned the defense of the Indian terminus of the Hump route, which it carried out by striking Japanese airfields and patrolling Allied air bases to safeguard them from attack. The 80th received a Distinguished Unit Citation for intercepting a formation of Japanese aircraft, preventing the destruction of a large oil refinery in Assam, India, on 27 March 1944. Though its primary mission in Burma was the protection of the "Hump" cargo route, the group also played an important role in reopening the Ledo/Burma Road. Using modified, so-called B-40 fighter bombers (the Curtiss P-40 fitted with a 1,000 pound bomb), the 80th FG attacked Japanese-held bridges, sometimes demolishing their target with a single bomb. By the end of the war, the group had destroyed more than 200 bridges and killed scores of bridge repair crews. Air-to-air and air-to-ground sweeps by the group's pilots claimed 80 enemy planes destroyed in the air or on the ground.

The 80th Fighter Group was withdrawn from combat in May 1945.

USAF Training Wing

Since its reactivation, the wing has provided undergraduate pilot training, initially for USAF, German Air Force, and South Vietnamese Air Force students.

Although South Vietnamese Air Force pilot training ceased in September 1974, students from other nations continued to train under the security assistance program through April 1980. It also provided USAF rotary-wing pilots' conversion training to fixed-wing aircraft from June 1977 – November 1981. The wing has conducted pilot training and pilot instructor training under the Euro-NATO Joint Pilot Training Program, since October 1981, with participating nations contributing staff and financial support. In January 1994, the 80th began training Euro-NATO pilots in fighter fundamentals, using AT-38 aircraft.

References

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.