8th Fighter Squadron taxiing at Active 1941-1957; 1957–2008; 2009–2011; 2017–present Branch Type Squadron Role Air Supremecy Part of Nickname(s) The Black Sheep Engagements (Asia-Pacific Theater) Kosovo Campaign Decorations Distinguished Unit Citation (5x) Air Force Meritorious Unit Award (3x) Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation (2x) Insignia 8th Fighter Squadron emblem (approved 12 May 1960) The 8th Fighter Squadron is an active United States Air Force squadron, assigned to the, stationed at, New Mexico. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • History [ ] World War II [ ] The 8th Fighter Squadron traces its origins to the formation of the at, Michigan on 20 November 1940. The 8th Pursuit Squadron was equipped with that were transferred from the that departed to, California. In May 1941, the squadron proceeded to Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Florida, to train in the fighter. With the advent of, the squadron moved to Australia and became part of in January 1942. It was re- designated as the 8th Fighter Squadron in May 1942.

The unit received Curtiss P-40 Warhawks in Australia and, after training for a short time, provided air defense for the Northern Territory. The squadron moved to New Guinea in October 1942 to help stall the Japanese drive southward from to. It engaged primarily in of Port Moresby; also escorted bombers and transports, and attacked enemy installations, supply lines, and troop concentrations in support of Allied ground forces. 8th Pursuit Squadron P-40Es at Darwin, Australia, in June 1942 The 8th participated in the Allied offensive that pushed the Japanese back along the Track, took part in the in March 1943, fought for control of the approaches to, and supported ground forces during the campaign in which the Allies eventually recovered New Guinea. It covered the landings on Noemfoor and had a part in. The conquest of. It was during this time that the 8th acquired their name, 'The Black Sheep' Squadron.

While the and received new aircraft, the 8th received the older aircraft being replaced by the other squadrons. Unhappy with being last on the supply line and not liking the unlucky 'Eightballs' name caused the pilots to begin calling the 8th “The Black Sheep' Squadron. The name stuck and a Disney artist designed the distinctive logo.

After having used, Curtiss P-40 Warhawks and, the 8th was equipped completely in September 1944 with P-38's, which were used to fly long-range escort and attack missions to,,, and. The unit arrived in the Philippines in October 1944, shortly after the assault landings on and engaged enemy fighters, attacked shipping in, supported ground forces, and covered the Allied invasion of. Other missions from the Philippines included strikes against industry and transportation on and against shipping along the China coast.

During World War II the 8th amassed an impressive record of 207 aerial victories. Notable “aces” included (10), Ernest Harris (10), Robert White (9), George Kiser (9), Sammie Pierce (7), James Morehead (7), Willie Drier (6), James Hagerstrom (6), Robert Howard (6), Don Meuten(6), Nial Castle(5), William Day (5), Marion Felts (5), Nelson Flack (5). The 8th Fighter Squadron and its sister squadrons (7th and 9th Fighter Squadrons) attained a record of 668 aerial victories not matched in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

After the Japanese Capitulation, the squadron moved to the Japanese Home Islands, initially being stationed at the former, near Tokyo on 15 September 1945. Its war-weary P-38 Lightnings were sent back to the United States and the squadron was re-equipped with with a mission of both duty and show-of-force flights. In February 1946, the squadron was moved to, on northern and assumed an air defense mission over Honshu and also Island. The pilots of the squadron were briefed not to allow any aircraft over Japanese airspace, as there was tension between the United States and the Soviet Union about Soviet occupation forces landing on Hokkaido. In April 1948, the squadron moved to the newly-rebuilt when the host 49th Fighter Group took up home station responsibilities.

At Misawa, the squadron moved into the jet age when it was re-equipped with the. Korean War [ ]. The fully armed squadron CO's F-84E during the Korean War With the outbreak of the in June 1950, the 8th was one of the first USAF squadrons dispatched to Korea from Japan, initially operating propeller-driven F-51Ds to cover the evacuation of civilians from and. Next, it flew close air support missions to help slow the advancing North Korean armies. Later, it turned to the interdiction of enemy troops, supplies and communications from Misawa. However its short-range F-80Cs meant that the 49th had to move to South Korea in order for them to be effective.

May 18, 2010.:shock: I am able to find the required decal sheets for 1/48 and also 1/32 but I cannot find anything for 1/72. It doesn't make sense,Both Xtradecal and Colorado make Roundels and serial numbers in all scales but when it comes to medium sea grey squadron codes,there is absolutely nothing in 1/72!!:evil.

The squadron moved to (K-2) on 1 October 1950, becoming the first jet fighter outfit to operate from bases in South Korea. During the autumn of 1950 and spring of 1951, the squadron flew combat missions on a daily basis from Tageu, flying escort missions for over North Korea and engaging Communist fighters in air-to-air combat. When the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) Intervention Campaign gained momentum in 1950–1951, the squadron again concentrated on the ground support mission, attacking ground units in North Korea, moving south until the line was stabilized and held just south of.

The 49th changed equipment to the in mid-1951, It engaged Communist forces on the ground in support of the 1st UN Counteroffensive Campaign (1951). Afterwards, it engaged primarily in air interdiction operations against the main enemy channel of transportation, the roads and railroads between and. Also, it flew close air support missions for the ground forces and attacked high-value targets, including the Sui-ho hydroelectric plants in June 1952 and the Kumgang Political School in October 1952. On 27 July 1953, the squadron joined with the 58th FBG to bomb Sunan Airfield for the final action of F-84 fighter-bombers during the Korean War.

The wing remained in Korea for a time after the armistice. It was reassigned to Japan in November 1953 and returned to its air defense mission. The squadron upgraded to the in 1956.

By late 1957, however, worldwide budget restrictions during FY 1958 meant that the and its elements would be inactivated as part of a reduction of the USAF units based in Japan. United States Air Forces in Europe [ ] After the 8th's inactivation in Japan, the 8th assumed the aircraft, personnel and equipment of the at, France on 10 December 1957. The 562d was simultaneously inacvtivated. As the 8th had been a part of American forces in the Pacific since it was sent to Australia in January 1942, the assignment to Europe after fifteen years in the Pacific was a major change for the organization.

Taking over the seven and three dual-seat F-100F trainers of the 561st, the squadron continued its normal peacetime training. The squadron began keeping four of its planes on 15-minute alert (Victor Alert) on 1 February 1958 so a portion of the squadron could react quickly in an emergency.

During the fall of 1958, most of the squadron operated from while the runway at Etain was being repaired and resurfaced. 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-4D about 1976 At Holloman, the squadron participated in tactical exercises and firepower demonstrations to maintain combat readiness. Also, the first 'Tail Codes' to identify squadron aircraft were applied, rather than the traditional yellow colors of the 8th which had been used since the Korean War. Initially 'HC' was the tail code identifier for the 8th, however, in 1972, the Air Force issued AFM 66-1 which specified wing tail codes and the squadron's planes were standardized on the 49th's 'HO' tail code. However, a yellow tail stripe was applied to identify squadron aircraft. The 8th also retained its NATO commitment to return once a year to its 'dual base' home in West Germany.

These deployments were known as 'Crested Cap', and are listed belowi in the squadron station list. With the end of the and subsequent force drawdowns by, these annual exercises ended in 1991.

Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base [ ] On 4 May 1972, after North Vietnam invaded [South Vietnam, the entire 49th Wing, except for a rear echelon that remained to run Holloman, deployed to, Thailand. Operation Constant Guard III, ordered in response to the North Vietnamese invasion, was the largest movement that had ever performed. In nine days, the squadron deployed its F-4D Phantom IIs from Holloman to Takhli. Airmen arriving reported that Takhli was a mess, with missing or broken plumbing fixtures, no hot water, and no drinking water - that had to be trucked in from Korat every day.

Bed frames had been thrown out of the hootches into the high snake-infested grass, and mattresses or bedding consisted of sleeping bags at best. The 8th flew combat sorties in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos from 1 July to 24 September 1972 during, the bombardment campaign in North Vietnam. During this deployment, Operation Constant Guard, the squadron flew over just about every battle zone from An Loc to vital installations in the Hanoi vicinity. During five months of combat, the squadron did not lose any aircraft or personnel. The unit officially closed out its Southwest Asia duty 6 October 1972. F-15A Eagle era [ ]. 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-15A In October 1977, the 49th Wing ended its 'dual-base' commitment to NATO and changed to an mission with the wing beginning a conversion from the F-4D Phantom II to the, the 49th being the second USAF operational wing to receive the F-15A.

The transition was completed 4 June 1978. Due to the change in equipment, the annual NATO deployments were taken over by the at, in 1978; however they resumed (although not on an annual basis) in 1981. In the United States, training missions was refocused on dissimilar air combat tactics for multi-theater operations, participating in numerous Red Flags, Joint Training exercises, and deployments in the Air Defense/Superiority Mission. Mp4 Filme Download Deutsch.

Frequent deployments were made to, Nevada to exercise with the 'Aggressor' aircraft of the, and other aircraft types (including clandestine exercises with Soviet aircraft flown by the at, Nevada). Also, after TAC absorbed the interceptor mission of in 1979, the squadron maintained the TAC air defense alert commitment in the Eagle, with the best scramble times in NORAD.

With the introduction of the F-15C Eagle in the mid-1980s, the upgraded Eagle began replacing the F-15A and Bs in service with all of the USAF units that had previously been operating the Eagle with the exception of the 49th Wing. By the time of in 1991, the F-15A Eagles at Holloman had been relegated to a training role; combat deployments of the Eagle were the purview of F-15C units. F-117 Nighthawk era [ ]. 8th Fighter Squadron F-117A taxiing by a Wright 'B' Flyer In 1992, the 49th Fighter Wing underwent a number of transitions. As a result of the end of the, reduced defense budgets were the order of the day.

As a result, the 8th Fighter Squadron retired its F-15A Eagles and received the stealth fighters of the, which was simultaneously inactivated. After conversion to the F-117A in May 1992, The 8th deployed fighters and their crews to Southwest Asia during the 1990s as part of to support (UN) weapons inspectors in Iraq, to enforce the over the southern part of that country to deprive of his Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programs and to force his compliance with the UN monitoring regime. 8th F-117s fighters deployed to the Gulf in 1998 during to upgrade the strike force's capability to attack high-value targets.

But the 18-hour flight from Holloman AFB to Kuwait meant that the operation was over before the F-117 aircraft arrived in the Gulf. Operation Allied Force [ ]. An 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron F-117 taxis at Aviano Air Base, Italy, for an air strike mission during Operation Allied Force on 24 March 1999 On 21 February, the 8th deployed F-117 and their crews to, Italy and Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, remaining until 1 July 1999, in support of, the attempt to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in the former nation of Yugoslavia. In the opening phase of the operation, aimed primarily at Yugoslavia's integrated air defense system, NATO air forces conducted more than 400 sorties. During the first two night attacks, allied air forces struck 90 targets throughout Yugoslavia and in. F-117 Nighthawks from the 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron participated in air strikes against targets in the Balkans during NATO operations bravely trusting in their aircraft's low observable technology struck some of the most valuable and highly guarded targets in Serbia. The F-117s successfully penetrated the heavily defended areas, which conventional aircraft could not reach.

On 27 March 1999, apparently struck by a salvo of SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missiles. Unknown to NATO, Yugoslav air defenses operators had found they could detect F-117s with their 'obsolete' Soviet radars after some modifications that could detect the aircraft when their wheels were down or bomb bay doors were open. A US search and rescue team picked up the pilot several hours after the F-117 went down outside Belgrade. This was the first and so far the only F-117 to have been lost in action. On 1 April 1999, Defense Secretary directed 12 more F-117 stealth fighters to join NATO Operation Allied Force, to join the total of 24 F-117s that were participating in NATO Operation Allied Force. Operation Enduring Freedom [ ]. An 8th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron F-117 and F-15s prepare to launce from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, during Operation Enduring Freedom People, airplanes, and equipment of the 49th Fighter Wing played a key role in.

The wing's F-117s played a major role, dropping the first bombs against an Iraqi leadership target in Baghdad on 19 March 2003. Deployed to, Qatar, assigned to the, on the opening night of the invasion, fresh intelligence was received that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was staying at a specific bunker for the night. USAF planners had a rare opportunity to kill the elusive Iraqi leader. It was reasoned that might bring down his regime without war. The F-117s would carry the new GPS-guided EGBU-27 precision guided bomb. The problem was it had never been used in combat and the weapons had arrived at Al Udeid a mere 24 hours earlier. Combat preparation of the fighters began immediately.

The plan called for the F-117s to take off as soon as possible. Two stealth fighters roared northward into the nighttime sky at 3:38 a.m. After refueling over the Gulf near, the stealth fighters split up and took separate routes over Iraq to the target area. The sun was starting to come up and the sun was starting to come up by the time the pilots reached, however on that morning Baghdad was obscured under low-level clouds. Each of the two F-117s released two bombs, which plummeted toward the bunker in which Saddam Hussein was believed to be sleeping. Release came at 5:30 a.m., 13 minutes after dawn but only five hours after the pilots first heard that such a mission might be in the offing.

The strike caught Iraqi defenses completely off guard. Defensive anti-aircraft fire did not begin until the aircraft had completed the attack and were racing out of the Baghdad area.

8th FS F-117s prepare to be flown into retirement, 12 March 2007 Although the strike did not kill Saddam Hussein, what it did accomplish was to allow the coalition to seize the initiative. Also the EGBU-27 immediately became the F-117’s premier weapon. According to Air Force data, 98 of them were delivered during the conflict, compared to only 11 of the traditional, predominantly laser versions. During, F-117 pilots flew more than 80 missions and dropped nearly 100 enhanced guided bomb units against key targets.

Approximately 300 people deployed with the air package and provided direct support to the F-117 mission. In 2006, the Air Force announced that Holloman AFB would cease to be the home of the F-117A Nighthawk, coinciding with the announcement that the aircraft was set to be retired from service by 2008.

The planes were sent to their former base at Tonopah Airport, Nevada for retirement and long-term indoor storage. Tonopah was selected to store the aircraft as it was stated that even in retirement, the stealth technology of the aircraft remained classified. Therefore, the planes would be stored in their former hangars where they were originally kept during the years the existence of the aircraft was secret. The last F-117A Nighthawk flew to Tonopah in late April 2008, and as a result, the 8th inactivated for the first time after 67 years of active service on 16 May 2008. F-22A Raptor era [ ]. • Aircraft is Lockheed Martin F-22A block 20 serial 04-407.

Taken on the afternoon of 21 December 2009. • Bailey indicates the squadron continued to fly Thunderjets until inactivated. • Aircraft is North American F-100D Super Sabre serial 56-3206, taken in 1958. • Aircraft is McDonnell F-4D Phantom II serial 65-590 1970 with squadron 'HC' tail code. Two Weeks Download Drama.

• Aircraft is McDonnell F-4D Phantom II serial 66-7739 after changeover to 'HO' tail code. • Aircraft is McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle serial 77-151, taken in 1981. • Aircraft is Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk serial 86-838. Taken during the US Air and Trade Show at, 17 July 2003.

• Aircraft is Lockheed Martin F-22A Block 30 Raptor serial 05-4093. • ^ Bailey, Carl E. (January 6, 2009).. Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 18 February 2017.

• Ferguson & Pascalis [ ] • ^ Staff writer, no byline (September 20, 2010).. 49th Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 18 February 2017. • Ferguson & Pascali, p. 202 • Ferguson & Pascalis [ ] • Martin [ ] • ^ Herbert, Adam J.

(July 2003).. Air Force Magazine. Retrieved 18 February 2017. • Church, Aaron (July 2011).. Air Force Magazine: 15–16. Retrieved 18 February 2017. • ^ Ika, Siuta B.

(20 May 2011).. 49th Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 18 February 2017. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017. • ^ Docherty, A1C Alexis P.

(August 4, 2017).. Air Force History Index. Retrieved August 16, 2017. Bibliography [ ] This article incorporates from the website. • Ferguson, S.W.; Pascalis, William K. Protect & Avenge: The 49th Fighter Group in World War II. Schiffer Military History.

Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.. • Martin, Patrick (1994). Tail Code: The Complete History of USAF Tactical Aircraft Tail Code Markings. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military Aviation History..

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. (PDF) (reprint ed.).

Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History... Retrieved December 17, 2016. • Maurer, Maurer, ed.

(1982) [1969]. (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History.... Retrieved December 17, 2016. • Ravenstein, Charles A. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History..

Retrieved December 17, 2016. External links [ ] Wikimedia Commons has media related to.

For code letters, there was a set format, with dimensions diminishing pro rata. 48' letter/numerals were 24' wide, 6' apart, and the brush strokes were 6' wide; dimensions for 24' letters were 12', 3' & 3' respectively.

When Spitfires got their dispensation to go down to a height of 20', some Squadrons seem to have kept to the other dimensions, giving the letters a slightly 'squat' appearance. For general use, I found that Univers 67, or Helvetica Medium, seemed closest. It isn't easy to find a font which has all of the curves, on capital Bs, for instance, exactly the same size, and nobody seems to do a straight figure 1, so 'I' has to act as stand-in. Serial numbers, with a height of 8', were 5' wide, 1' apart, and brush strokes 1' wide; 4' numbers were 21/2', 3/4' & 5/8', respectively. Although not exactly dimensionally correct, due to the figures being much smaller, I still found Helvetica Medium was closest, especially as its '8' has virtually identical circles, though 7 is duff, so a butchered 'Z' stands in. Edgar Edited September 11, 2009 by Edgar.

What time period and a/c type are you talking about?? Since around 1947 the RAF and RN have used a more or less standard alphabet and number set.

Yes, there is a 'font' available for your computer, but it's not 100% accurate according to the specs. It's close though. WWII stuff was pretty much all either hand painted or applied using stencils, of which the variety is staggering. There were almost no two airplanes alike it seems.

There are no 'fonts' for those. Look closely at a lot of pics of Spits and such and you'll actually see the brush marks and uneven edges to the codes. Lately, the RAF seem to be using Helvetica Bold, or possibly Arial (I despise Arial and all other things Microsoft). That's because they're using a computer controlled stencil cutter just like the USAF and USN. You're seeing a lot more of that kind of stuff on military airplanes nowadays than you ever did before.