Forum: General F-16 forum

Anyone have any history on the 306th Tactical Fighter Squadron or was part of this Homestead unit while it was operational with the F-16?

Many thanks,
Jon@F-16.net

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I was in the 308th TFTS (Green) when the 306th (Gold) was getting Homesteads first batch of Vipers in 1985, they de-activated the 306th and they became the 308th Emerald Knights when we got rid of our last F-4D's.
I don't know if the 306th ever re-activated or not but it never did in the four years I was there. We had the 307th Stingers (Red) , 308th Knight's (Green) and 309th (Sitting Ducks) TFS'.
Basically the 306th was set up as a temp. squadron.
I think I even have a picture of the first viper with the 306th colors and squadron patch.
That's all I know about it, don't know what or where it was prior to or after Homestead.

The 308th moved to Moody, and had A-10's for a while too. I don't know the dates though

This is true, all of the active duty squadrons from Homestead pulled chocks because of Hurricane Andrwew and never returned, the 309th is now at Luke.

The 308th Emerald Knights ended up at Luke as well. They were combined into the 56th with the MacDill transplant units (bad couple of years for Florida Viper units). The 31st went to Aviano with all new squadrons. The 482nd is all that remains from the pre-Andrew years at Homestead. I forget the squadron mascot of the 306th, but yes, they did have a yellow tail flash, and you can see their squadron patch on usafpatches.com

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

Wow, seems like a million years ago. I was on the initial F-16 Cadre at Homestead. Started off Gold Plating the old F-4s. 306th was re-activated and was first to receive F-16s, then 307th, 308th and finally 309th. 306th was de-activated and became the 308th. I later moved to 309th (Pro-super) and left for another Cadre position at Eielson AFB, Alaska just before Andrew. I still have the 306th, 307th, 308th, 309th colored sticker patches that were put on the side of the aircraft. Heard all the squadrons were moved to either MacDill and Shaw, then moved again but lost track. I heard Walt Disney designed all four squadron patches, I'll have to dig out my patch to see what the 306th was.

This is what I dug up for a 306 patch.

That would be it, the rabbit Very Happy

I have this patch, but it is 306th TFTS. Was this before or after the TFS version?

I believe it was beforehand Jon. The 306th didn't last long at Homestead after the Phantom-to-Viper transition, but I believe it was a training squadron for the Phantoms and later, very briefly, for the 16s. Can you confirm that ted? That has been several years, and many beers ago (not very Lincoln-esque, eh?) for TC. But I think I'm right. 306th TFTS might have been one of the old F-4 CCT squadrons at Homestead. If I'm not mistaken, they had Steve Ritchie's old F-4 (D model #463) for a few years, complete with 6 kill stars on the left intake vane. One of the squadrons at Homestead did, I'm certain of that. I'll have to dig up my pic of the jet, and see.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

Ok, I was mistaken. I just looked at the pic of #463 again, and it has a blue tail flash, meaning it belonged to the 309th "Ducks". I'll have to post a copy of the pic sometime very soon.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

Happy Gilmore sounds, like you have some photos of the 306th TFS. Thats great, we don't have any on the site of that unit, so would be welcome. Any one else have photos from the 306th TFS that they could contribute also?

Jon

Actually there is a picture of one here, it's the squadron jet flying over the Dry Tortuga's with the Wing Kings jet. The both have ZF for a the fin flash but I don't know the tail number. I have found a few pictures in my pile of thousands and have the first F-16 delivered to homestead with a bunch of Phantoms in the Background. I'll try to scan and post it this week. I just remembered the 306th's name, they were 'The Gunners'. Thanks for playing and have a nice day.

Ok, here is what I've found so far for time line on this unit:

1) Activated: 306th FBS in September 57 with the F-100D/F
2) Moved to Tuy Hoa AB, South Vietnam in 1965
3) Back to Homestead AFB in 1976 converted to F-4E and became the 306th TFTS
4) In March 1981 converted to the F-4D
5) June 1985 converted to the F-16A/B block 15 and became the 306th TFS
6) Deactivated either October 1986 or sometime in 1988

Have information showing both deactivation dates, so need major clarification on that.

Any more help would be great, especially on dates.

Cheers

I can tell you for sure that the 306th deactivated long before 1988. I got to Homestead in October 1985 and like I said, there was ONE F-16 there at the time. The October of 86 date would be more acurate because that's about when the 306th became the 308th and I transfered to the 309th.
Interesting info on it's history Jon.

Forum: General F-16 forum

306th TFS (Homestead AFB) History ?