HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Editor's note: This feature is part of a Hill Air Force Base 80th anniversary series. These articles will feature the base’s historical innovations and achievements, and will highlight mission platforms that have been operated and supported throughout the decades.
On December 12, 1975, the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force announced its plan to relocate the 1550th Aircrew Training and Test Wing from Hill AFB to Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. The reassignment of the 1550th made available the space necessary to concurrently relocate the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, equipped with 54 F-4D aircraft, from Korat Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, to Hill AFB. Access to the Hill Air Force Range (now the Utah Test and Training Range, or UTTR) for support in completing required weapons training played a key role in the 388th TFW’s reassignment to the installation.
The 388th TFW began receiving its assigned aircraft at Hill AFB on January 10, 1976, when the first 13 of its F-4D’s arrived from Hickam AFB, Hawaii. The 388th had operated with various aircraft during its history. From 1942 until its deactivation in 1945, the 388th Bombardment Group (Heavy) flew the B-17 Flying Fortress. Activated again a few years later, the 388th operated during the 1950s as a Fighter-Bomber Wing (FBW) with the F-86 Sabre and F-100 Super Sabre before once more inactivating. Upon its activation as a Tactical Fighter Wing in the early 1960s, the 388th was equipped with the F-105 Thunderchief and later the F-4 Phantom.
An Air Force announcement released on April 10, 1977, designated the wing as the first operational unit to be equipped with the new F-16 lightweight fighter aircraft. The first F-16 to land at Hill AFB arrived on July 15, 1977, during a test flight from Edwards AFB, California. The Air Force accepted the first full-scale production F-16 aircraft at the General Dynamics plant in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 17, 1978. Major General James A. Abrahamson, F-16 project director, accepted the aircraft. Brigadier General David D. Rohr, Commander of the 388th TFW, participated in the acceptance ceremony.
During the latter half of the 1970s, the Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC) added new system management responsibilities to those already existing. Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command gave the Ogden ALC provisional system management responsibility for the F-16 during 1974. On December 20, 1976, the Ogden ALC received the worldwide system and maintenance management assignment for the F-16. Management of the program included budgeting, funding, spare parts, technical data, training equipment and related support equipment, and maintenance workload.
The 388th TFW received its first F-16 for operational use on January 6, 1979. A few months later, in June, the Ogden ALC’s Directorate of Maintenance welcomed its first F-16. The Ogden ALC used this F-16A aircraft for the purpose of familiarization only, and it departed the installation a short time later. The first F-16 to come to Hill AFB for depot maintenance arrived on June 29, 1979. This began a depot maintenance program at the Ogden ALC that continues to the present.