Before the 366th Tactical
Fighter Wing arrived at Mountain Home AFB, ID on 31 October 1972, the 389
th, 390th
, and 391st Tactical
Fighter Squadrons had returned from Vietnam, joined the 347
th On October 31st, the 347th was replaced
by the 366th and for the first time since it left for Vietnam, the wing
once again had its three original flying units.
Operations continued unchanged for several years. The wing tested its
readiness in August 1976 when a border incident in Korea prompted the United
States to augment its military contingent in South Korea as a show of
force. The 366thdeployed a
squadron of 20 F-111 fighters. They reached Korea only 31 hours after receiving
launch notification. Tensions eased shortly afterward and the detachment
returned home.
Later, the Air Force sent the F-111F aircraft from Mountain Home to
the 48th Tactical Fighter
Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England, in a move to modernize its European
forces. In return, the 366th
received F-111A aircraft from Nellis AFB, Nevada.
In March 1980, the Air Force announced plans to base EF-111A
Raven electronic combat aircraft at Mountain
Home.The
Raven variant was specifically design
to blind enemy radars with powerful electronic signals.
The 366th gradually sent
part of its F-111A fleet to the Grumman Aerospace Corporation where they
underwent extensive modification and were converted to the EF-111A configuration.
In support of these changes, on July 1, 1981, Air Force activated the
388 th Electronic Combat
Squadron to receive the newly modified
Ravens.However, a year
later, Air Force redesignated 390th
Tactical Fighter Squadron as the 390t
h Electronic Combat Squadron, which replaced
the 388th and began serving
as the wing's only EF-111A squadron.
Operations throughout the early 1980s remained stable with the 366
th Tactical Fighter Wing training F-111A and
EF-111A aircrews while maintaining combat readiness in both aircraft.
The aging F-111A fleet was retired in the early '90s, which prompted
the inactivation of the 391 st
Tactical Fighter Squadron in June 1990 and of the 389
th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron in June
1991.
But as the F-111As were being retired, the wing’s
Ravens saw extensive service.
In December 1989, the 366th deployed its EF-111As in support of Operation
Just Cause in Panama.The 390
th Electronic Combat Squadron contributed
a small force of EF-111A aircraft to jam enemy radars during the brief
invasion.
Post-Vietnam Awards