#1440Sig F-16CG Fighting Falcon Signed
Description
Squadron Prints Lithograph No. 1440 - 89-2003 '35 FS', F-16CG Fighting Falcon, 35th Fighter Squadron, 8th Fighter Wing, Kunsan AB, South Korea. The 35th Fighter Squadron stood up as the 35th Aero Squadron on 12 June 1917 at Camp Kelly, Texas. On 11 August 1917, the squadron deployed to Etampes, France, where it served as a support unit building base facilities, and assembling and maintaining aircraft during World War I. On 20 February 1919, the victorious 35th redeployed stateside and was inactivated on 19 March 1919. Reactivated on 25 June 1932, the squadron joined the 8th Pursuit Group at Langley Field, Virginia flying the P-12. The squadron patch included an attacking panther, leading to the squadron nickname, the "Black Panthers". Over the next decade, the 35th flew the P-6, PB-2A, P-36, YP-37, A-17 and P-40 until they converted to the P-39 Airacobra in 1941. On 26 April 1942, the 35th deployed to New Guinea supporting General Douglas MacArthur during his victorious southwest Pacific campaign. Flying the P-40, P-39 and then the P-38, the 35th contributed, scoring 124 aerial victories, earning four Distinguished Unit Citations and nine campaign streamers. On 16 August 1945, the 35th scored the last official kills of World War II. On 27 June 1950, the now redesignated 35th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, scored the Air Force's first aerial victories in the F-80 Shooting Star at the start of the Korean War. Following nearly three years of fighting, the 35th converted to the F-86 Sabre, which it flew from 1953 until converting to the F-100 in 1957. Redesignated the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron on 1 July 1958, the squadron flew combat sorties over Vietnam, first in the F-105, then in the F-4 Phantom II, which it flew from 1967-1981. On 15 March, 1971 the 35th moved operations to its current home, Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. Following action in Vietnam, the "Black Panthers" became known as the "Pantons". In 1981, the Pantons converted to the F-16A, upgrading to F-16Cs in 1994 and the Block 40 F-16 in 2001. On 3 February 1992, the Pantons were redesignated the 35th Fighter Squadron. To this day, the 35th continues to remain ready for combat to protect the Republic of Korea, accept follow-on forces and take the fight north. Our motto: 'First to Fight'. Signed by many crew in Pen