The Korean War
On 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, starting a war that would last three years. As the war in Korea began, the 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing was the first fighter wing to fly combat missions, providing air cover for the evacuation of Americans from Korea on 26 June, the day after the invasion. In these early operations, the wing flew the F-80 Shooting Star jet fighter and propeller driven aircraft such as the F-51 Mustang and F-82 Twin Mustang.
The wing had various squadrons attached to it during the first months of the war in addition to the 35th, 36th, and 80th Fighter Squadrons. This first aerial victory of the Korean War went to 1Lt William G. Hudson, of the 68th Fighter All-Weather Squadron (attached to the 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing), in an F-82. Later the same day, 35th Fighter-Bomber Squadron F-80s scored the Air Force's first confirmed kills from jet aircraft. In August, the wing briefly reverted to the F-51 Mustang, returning to the F-80 in December 1950. Throughout the war, the wing principally conducted air-to-ground operations, providing close air support to United Nations ground forces and attacking targets such as supply centers and transportation assets. One of the wing's flyers, Major Charles J. Loring Jr., was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor after he intentionally dove his crippled F-80 into an enemy anti-aircraft site on Sniper Ridge in November 1952.
The wing finished the war flying the F-86 Sabre and became responsible for air defense over South Korea until relocated to Itazuke Air Base, Japan in October 1954. Its wartime participation in Korea earned the wing two Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations and ten campaign streamers, while the 8th Fighter-Bomber Group separately earned a Distinguished Unit Citation. During the war in Korea, the 8th shot down 18 enemy aircraft, most in the earliest days of the war before the wing's mission changed to air-to-ground operations.
The wing remained at Itazuke for the next ten years. On 1 October 1957, the 8th Fighter-Bomber Group inactivated, with the flying squadrons then assigned directly to the wing. Less than a year later, on 1 July 1958, the Air Force redesignated the wing as the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. During its tenure at Itazuke, the wing flew several different aircraft, including the F-86 Sabre, F-100 Super Sabre, F-102 Delta Dagger, and F-105 Thunderchief. All of the wing's components except the headquarters inactivated on 18 June 1964, and by 10 July the wing moved without personnel or equipment to George Air Force Base, California. Here the 8th absorbed the assets of the 32nd Tactical Fighter Wing. In the transfer, the wing gained all new personnel and units: the 431st, 433rd, and 497th Tactical Fighter Squadrons. For the next year and a half, the wing trained at George in the F-4C Phantom II and participated in various exercises and inspections before deploying to Thailand in December 1965.
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