4th's jets take to the sky
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on April 16, 2012 12:38 PM
Airmen with Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's 4th Fighter Wing are paying homage to their World War II predecessors today with the launch of 70 F-15E Strike Eagles that will destroy more than 1,000 targets across North Carolina. On April 16, 1945, during World War II, the 4th Fighter Group destroyed 105 enemy aircraft as part of an 8th Air Force mission involving 1,252 bombers and 913 fighters. By the end of the mission, the 4th Fighter Group had destroyed a total 1,016 enemy aircraft over the course of the war -- more than any group or wing in U.S. Air Force history. Today the Wing is planning to achieve the same objective. Col. Patrick Doherty, 4th Fighter Wing commander, is leading the launch. The 4th Fighter Wing is home to four fighter squadrons, three of which were part of the original Eagle Squadrons, American volunteers who flew as part of the Royal Air Force in the early days of the war.