USAF Patch Fighter USAFE c u 406 AEW Air Expeditionary Wing g F 16 Falcon a

USAF Patch USAFE 406 AEW Air Expeditionary Wing Operation Iraqi Freedom Diyarbakir AB Turkey 2003 Fully embroidered cut edge 85mm by 88mm three and five sixteenth inches by three and seven sixteenth inches.

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406 Fighter Bomber Wing was activated on 10 July 1952 at RAF Manston England with personnel and equipment transferred from 123 Fighter Bomber Wing which had been released from federal service and returned to the Kentucky Air National Guard. The Wings flying units were 512 513 and 514 Fighter Squadrons equipped with F 84G Thunderjets and was assigned to Third Air Force to provide air defence. The Wing was redesignated 406 Fighter Interceptor Wing on 1 April 1954.

406 FIW was inactivated in May 1958 with its Squadrons assigned to 86 Air Division at Ramstein Air Base West Germany with 512 FIS based at Sembach Air Base West Germany 513 FIS based at Phalsbourg-Bourscheid Air Base France and 514 FIS at Ramstein Air Base West Germany.

With the closure of Wheelus Air Base in Libya Zaragoza Air Base Spain was returned to active status on 19 February 1970 with the activation of the 86th Air Division as a USAFE weapons training facility using the Bardenas Reales Air-to-Ground Bombing and Gunnery Range.

406 Tactical Fighter Training Wing was activated on 15 July 1972 to provide support to all USAFE tactical aircraft deployed SAC and TAC units and allied NATO units using the Zaragoza range. In September 1972 the Wing operated the USAFE Tactical Forces Employment School and in May 1976 the USAFE Instructor Pilot School.

Weapons training detachments were mainly of F 4 Phantom II aircraft with F 111 Aardvarks using the 406 TFTSs ranges for a short period in 1974 and US Navy A 7 Corsairs in June 1974.  406 TFTW began permanent full maintenance support of a SAC KC 135 tanker detachment in November 1976 and on 12 September 1977 the Wing conducted the first Dissimilar Air Combat Training DACT missions with USAF and US Navy aircraft.

The Instructor Pilot School was inactivated in July 1979 and on 1 January 1980 406 TFTW assumed responsibility for support of the four USAF tropo scatter radar sites at Humosa Mencora Soller and Inoges in conjunction with 401 Tactical Fighter Wing. F 16 Weapons Training Detachments began in 1982 as F 16s were introduced to the European theatre.

406 TFTW provided major air and ground support for Operation Desert Shield in 1990 conducted in response to Iraqs invasion of Kuwait with thousands of military personnel and tons of equipment passing through Zaragoza to the Middle East and continued to act as a major aerial port providing support during and after Operation Desert Storm.

With the requirement for US Forces to leave Spain the use of the training range ended in December 1991 and Zaragoza base operations were handed back to the Spanish in April 1992. 406 Tactical Fighter Training Wing was inactivated on 1 April 1994 when USAFE ended its presence and returned control of Zaragoza Air Base to the Spanish government.

406 Air Expeditionary Wing AEW was reactivated in January 2003 as a provisional wing to be used as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom OIF based at Diyarbakir AB Turkey. When Turkey refused to allow its territory to be used as part of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq the Wing was inactivated in June 2003. The Wing was reactivated at RAFO Thumrait Oman with KC 135 tankers later moving to Camp Bastion Afghanistan. 406 Air Expeditionary Wing was stood up again in March 2011 at Moron Air Base Spain to provide KC 135 and KC 10 air refueling in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn and Operation Unified Protector NATO operations enforcing the UNs resolutions over Libya.

This patch dates from 2003.