1st Fighter Wing - Operation Noble Eagle

Combat Air Patrols over the US, 2001-Present
On September 11th, 2001, the 1st Fighter Wing (27th and 71st Fighter Squadrons) was the first active duty fighter unit to launch armed patrols of the nation's skies. Within an hour of the New York and Washington DC attacks, the 1st Fighter Wing had armed F-15s on patrol key Eastern US cities. Dozens of airliners were escorted to safe landings by 1st Fighter Wing F-15s. Other fully armed F-15s, their pilots, and their maintainers stood by on scramble alert. This effort continued 24/7 and lasted over two months without relief from other units.

The 1st Fighter Wing (71st FS) also manned CAPs over western US cities during the same time, stopping their "Red Flag" exercises at Nellis AFB, NV, and immediately rearming with live munitions, also becoming the first active duty fighter unit in the western US to begin Combat Air Patrol duties. On September 11th, the 94th FS was on a 90-day combat deployment to Saudi Arabia for Operation Southern Watch.

During the first two months of Operation Noble Eagle (ONE), the 1st Fighter Wing flew nearly six months worth of hours on their tired F-15s. The seemingly inexhaustible maintainers thanklessly worked round-the-clock to keep up the break-neck pace of operations indefinitely.

The 1st Fighter Wing was eventually relieved of its 24/7 CAP responsibilities to allow the 27th, and then the 71st, to deploy to southwest Asia for Operation Southern Watch, only to pick the ONE CAP duties back up intermittantly for the next year and a half. The 1st Fighter Wing continues to support Operation Noble Eagle and the Homeland Defense mission today with its aircraft, personnel and facilities.

A Langley F-15 shares Combat Air patrol (CAP) duty with Air National Guard (ANG) F-16s over Washigton, DC , 2002

"Opus," 27th FS pilot, poses in front of his jet after a Noble Eagle sortie over the Nation's Capital in 2001. Photo by Adria Snider

 

News Article, pg 1 (Daily Press, 2001)

News Article, pg 2 (Daily Press, 2001)