Active Duty Raptor Unit At Hickam

Photo by David D. Underwood, Jr.

The 19th Fighter Squadron came home to Joint Base, or JB, Hickam-Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during a realignment and assumption of command ceremony on 4 October 2010. The 19th FS, previously located at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, will be the first active duty associate unit to fly the F-22 Raptor. Known as the Gamecocks, the 19th FS was originally formed in 1917, and was stationed at several locations in the Hawaiian Islands starting in the 1920s. The 19th FS suffered six casualties during the attack on Oahu by Imperial Japanese forces on 7 December 1941, but had no fatalities. The 19th FS and the 199th FS, the Hawaii Air National Guard host unit, will jointly operate twenty F-22s at Hickam.