Wisconsin's Badger Air Militia bids farewell to the Fighting Falcon

On 5 October 2022, the 115th Fighter Wing’s final WI coded F-16 Fighting Falcon was seen departing Truax Air National Guard Base (WI).

As the 115th Fighter Wing’s transition from the F-16C/D to the F-35A Lightning II continues, a sendoff ceremony commemorating their 30-year of Fighting Falcon service at Truax Field was held. In April 2020, Scramble Magazine wrote about the selection of Truax becoming a Lightning II base.

Awaiting the first arrival of the F-35A, the 115th Fighter Wing Badger Air Militia, with its subordinate units 176th Fighter Squadron and associated active duty 378th Fighter Squadron are based at Truax near Madison (WI).

Being an integral part of multiple world-wide deployments over the last 30 years, the first Badger Air Militia F-16A/B Fighting Falcons arrived at Truax Field in 1992, replacing the A-10A Thunderbolt II.

While a small contingent of F-16s from other units will temporarily operate from Truax Field to conduct homeland defense training, construction and training continue at the base in anticipation of the arrival of the first F-35A during the spring of 2023.

Photo via USAF