Today in History

[air marshal]

December 18, 1975
Assembly of F-16 Number One begins.

 

[air marshal]

December 20, 1979
IDFAF accepts first F-16 from Peace Marbel I order, following an 11-hour, 6,000-mile ferry flight from Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire.

December 20, 1990
RTAF accepts first F-16 from Peace Naresuan II order.

 

[air marshal]

December 21, 2007
522nd Fighter Squadron disbands at Cannon AFB, New Mexico.

 

[air marshal]

December 27, 1992
USAF F-16D #90-0778 from the 19th TFS, piloted by LTC Gary North of the 33rd TFS shoots down an Iraqi Mig-25 in UN-restricted airspace over southern Iraq, marking the first USAF F-16 kill and the first AMRAAM kill.

December 27, 2000
Chile orders 10 F-16s (Peace Puma) becoming the 21st customer.

December 27, 2002
Poland orders 48 F-16s (Peace Sky) becoming the 24th customer.

 

[air marshal]

December 29, 1988
First production F-16C block 40 (#87-0350) is delivered to the USAF.

 

[air marshal]

December 30, 1981
USAF inaugurates first European F-16 base at Hahn, Germany, with the 50th TFW converting from the F-4 to the F-16A/B.

 

[air marshal]

December 31, 1981
First production F-16B block 15 (#80-0635) is delivered to the USAF.

December 31, 1987
RDAF accepts first F-16 of follow-on order.

December 31, 1987
First production F-16A block 15OCU (#85-0141)

December 31, 1993
17th FS, of the USAF, disbands at Shaw AFB, South Carolina.

 

[air marshal]

January 1975
U.S. Air Force selects F-16 as its air combat fighter and announces plans to procure at least 650 aircraft.

 

[air marshal]

January 1, 1979
The USAF's 16th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron activates at Hill AFB, Utah in anticipation of receiving the F-16.

January 1, 1994
19th Fighter Squadron of the USAF moves to Alaska and converts from the F-16C/D to the F-15C/D.

January 1, 1997
Start of Operation Northern Watch, in which F-16s enforce a no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

 

[air marshal]

January 2, 1984
The 419th Tactical Fighter Wing begins conversion to the F-16, becoming the first AFRES F-16 unit.

 

[air marshal]

January 3, 1994
After converting from the F-111 to the F-16 and moving to Shaw AFB, South Carolina, the 77th Fighter Squadron reactivated.

January 3, 2001
USAF buys 4 more F-16C's which were included in the FY '01 budget.

 

[air marshal]

January 4, 1993
Mishap Rate per 100,000 flight hours in 1992 is 4,5 (USAF) and 5,4 (Worldwide).

 

[air marshal]

January 5, 1986
Worldwide F-16 fleet surpasses one million flight hours.

 

[air marshal]

January 7, 1993
A USAF F-16C from the 52nd FW destroys an Iraqi MiG-29 with an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, marking the second USAF F-16 air victory.

 

[air marshal]

January 8, 1974
The prototype YF-16 (#72-1567) is airfreighted by C-5 from Fort Worth to Edwards AFB.