Named after Frank B. Luke, a second Lieuteant from World War I, Luke AFB is the place to be for F-16 training. Since World War II, Luke AFB was the training school of lots of US Air Force pilots. Famous aircraft as the F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom were stationed at Luke to educate pilots to fly these aircraft in operational squadrons. In 2013, Luke AFB is still the world’s largest F-16 community with seven F-16 squadrons: the 62nd, 69th, 308th, 309th, 310th, 425th, and 21st Fighter Squadrons. The 69th FS is a reserve squadron, operating under the 944 FW. The Vipers of the 21st FS are owned by Taiwan, those of the 425th FS by Singapore. Both countries provide F-16 conversion training for their pilots at Luke. In the future, Luke AFB will be the training center for the F-35 Lightning II. The wing will welcome a total of 144 F-35’s, divided over six squadrons.

Our story was published in the October 2014 issue of Full Stop Magazine and in the December 2014 issue of Take-Off Magazine.