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51st Fighter Wing
Founded :
Country : US
Fate : became 51st Air Base Wing on Nov. 1, 1971
51st FW activated on Aug. 18, 1948 at Naha AFB and absorbed the resources of the 301st FW, to include the 51st FG. The 51st FW became a "fighter-interceptor" wing in 1950. It entered combat service in the Korean War on Sept. 22 of that year, when it moved to Itazuke AB, Japan, to support the breakout of the U.S. Eighth Army from the Pusan Perimeter. For nearly four years thereafter, the 51st FIW played a key role in the defense of South Korea despite moving to four different locations within a year and operating under austere conditions. The 51st FIW's war record was impressive. Wing pilots flew more than 45,000 sorties and shot down 312 MiG-15s; this produced 14 air aces including the top ace of the war, Capt. Joseph McConnell. The ratio of aerial victories to losses was 14 to 1. Unfortunately, the wing lost 32 pilots to enemy action; however, nine that became prisoners of war were repatriated later. On Aug. 1, 1954, the 51st FIW returned to Naha AB to resume air defense coverage of the Ryukyu Islands. At the same time, the wing demonstrated its mobility readiness in response to three regional crises. From August 1958 to January 1959, the 51st FIW deployed eight F-86Ds to Taiwan to fly combat air support missions for Nationalist Chinese forces after mainland Communist Chinese forces shelled the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu. Six years later, the wing deployed 12 F-102s to the Philippines and South Vietnam from August to October 1964 for air defense against possible Communist North Vietnamese air attacks. Finally, on Jan. 23, 1968, North Korean naval forces seized the USS Pueblo. From January to February 1968, the 51st dispatched 12 F-102s to Suwon AB, South Korea. The 51st FIW ended almost 17 years of service in the Pacific from Naha when it inactivated on May 31, 1971. Redesignated and activated as the 51st Air Base Wing on Nov. 1, 1971, the 51st assumed the host responsibilities of the inactivated 6314th Support Wing at Osan AB, to include the Koon-ni range and a variety of remote sites. In the first of many changes in name and combat capability over the next 20 years, the 51st ABW became the 51st Composite Wing (Tactical) on Sept. 30, 1974, when an F-4E fighter squadron and OV-10 tactical air support squadron were assigned. The defining changes of these decades included the addition of a squadron of A-10s on Jan. 1, 1982, then based at Suwon AB; the transition from the F-4E to the F-16 in August 1988; and the assignment of a flight of turboprop C-12Js in August 1992.
51st Fighter Wing
| Aces for : 51st Fighter Wing | ||
| A list of all Aces from our database who are known to have flown with this squadron. A profile page is available by clicking the pilots name. | ||
| Name | Victories | Info |
| Francis S Gabreski | 28.00 | The signature of Francis S Gabreski features on some of our artwork - click here to see what is available. |
| James Douglas Lindsay | 7.00 | The signature of James Douglas Lindsay features on some of our artwork - click here to see what is available. |
| 51st Fighter Wing Aircraft details |
| 51st Fighter Wing Pilot and aircrew signature details |
  Colonel Gabby Gabreski Our estimated value of this signature : £95 Died : 2002 | Colonel Gabby Gabreski Gabby Gabreski was the top scoring 8th Air Force fighter Ace in Europe with 28.5 victories in World War II, plus further 6.5 in Korea. Flying P47s with the 56th Fighter Group, his illustrious career in Europe came to a spectacular end, when, strafing an airfield his aircraft touched the ground. He crash landed and was taken prisoner. The story of this American hero from Oil City, Pennsylvania begins in 1942. Gabreski dropped out of his pre-med studies at the University of Notre Dame to become a flyer. Anxious to get into action quickly Francis Gabreski got himself assigned to the 3-1-5 Polish fighter squadron of the RAF in 1942. Although Gabreski flew many combat missions with the Polish fighter squadron he attained no victories. In February of 1943 he was reassigned to the U.S. Army's Eighth Air Force. On August 24, 1943 he got his first victory (a Focke-Wulf 190) over France. Flying the P-47 Thunderbolt or 'Jug', Gabreski continued to achieve victory after victory. He was officially credited with 28 confirmed aerial victories, and that excludes the scores of aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles destroyed by Gabreski during ground attack missions. For many weeks leading up to and following D-Day in June of 1944 Gabby had been on numerous missions involving the dive bombing and strafing of German trains, bridges, armored convoys, and gun emplacements. On July 20,1944 Gabby was scheduled to depart for a much-deserved leave, during which he planned to marry his girl, Kay Lochran. Shortly before his scheduled departure Gabreski was given the opportunity of leading the 61st Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group on an important mission. This was a challenge this ace could not resist. Near Cologne, Gabby spotted an airdrome and began a high-speed low-level attack. Defying his own axiom to 'hit them hard, hit them fast, hit them low, but never come around for a second pass,' Gabby made an ill-fated second pass over the field. On this second pass his propeller hit the tarmac, and Gabreski was forced to make a crash landing in a wheat field adjacent to the German airfield. For five days he was able to elude the German army, but he was finally captured and sent to Stalag Luft 1 in Barth Germany. In 1945 with the end of the War Gabby was released and he married Kay Cochran on June 11. Not long after the Korean War broke out, Gabby found himself in command of the 51st Fighter Wing, where he flew the F-86 Sabre jet. In Korea Gabreski attained 6.5 more confirmed aerial victories in engagements with Migs, earning the unique distinction of ace status in two different wars. Following his retirement from military service in 1967, Gabby worked for several years for Grumman Aircraft on Long Island. Later he was to become the President and General Manager of the Long Island Railroad. Two of his nine children are Air Force Academy graduates and pilots with the U.S. Air Force. At the time of his retirement from military service in 1967 Gabby is believed to have flown more combat missions than any other American fighter pilot. Gabreski lived in Long Island New York where the American flag proudly flew each day atop the Gabreski family flagpole. Colonel Francis 'Gabby' Gabreski passed away on 31st January 2002. |
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