The Alabama Air National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing received its first F-35 fighters last week, becoming the third Guard unit to get the fifth-generation aircraft and adding a new chapter in the wing’s storied legacy.
Nicknamed the “Red Tails” in honor of World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen, the 187th welcomed three F-35s to Dannelly Field on Dec. 5—seven months after the wing retired the F-16s it had flown for 35 years.
“It is an honor to be able to fly one of the first F-35s home,” said Lt. Col. Richard Peace, a pilot for the 187th Fighter Wing, in a release. “I have always looked up to the Tuskegee Airmen and can confidently say we will continue their legacy using the F-35s. Everyone at the wing has been hard at work preparing for this moment and it is finally here. I am excited to see everyone and to be back after months of pilot training preparing for this special day.”
Dannelly Field was selected to get F-35s in 2017, and construction on new facilities began four years later. The wing formally began the conversion process in March, as pilots and maintainers were embedded in other F-35 units around the country to learn to fly and maintain their new aircraft.
Wing Vice Commander Col. Jay R. Spohn told Air & Space Forces Magazine in May that he expected about 15 pilots to be fully qualified on the F-35 by the first aircraft’s arrival. According to a wing release, some 33 maintainers and support Airmen are also ready to work with the new planes.
“They are highly skilled, highly-trained maintainers that dedicated years of their lives and moved from Alabama to embed with F-35 Guard or active-duty units to learn best practices,” said Capt. Bryon Townsend, 187th Fighter Maintenance Group’s director of operations, describing his teammates in a statement. “We are grateful for the work they have put into their training and expect them to serve as the leaders that our maintenance members will look to for guidance, expertise, and empowerment.”
Shortly after the new stealth fighters’ arrival, the 187th took to Facebook to post a photo of a can of red paint and a spray gun in front of one aircraft, a cheeky reference to the wing’s tradition of painting their aircraft’s tails red, as did the Tuskegee Airmen.
But no one is actually going to paint the F-35 Lightning II tails. The aircraft’s stealthy skin is designed and crafted to minimize the jet’s radar signature, and the highly detailed work to maintain its skin is labor intensive.
Last year, the Air Force debuted some F-35s with a “Splinter” camouflage pattern as part of a new Aggressor Squadron. While officials said then that the paint would not negate or interfere with the fighter’s low observability, subsequent jets from the same squadron have not featured that unique paint job.
Whatever color their actual tails, the Wing joins the Vermont ANG’s 158th Fighter Wing and Wisconsin ANG’s 115th Fighter Wing as the only Guard units flying the world’s most advanced stealth fighter. In time, the 187th will gain 20 F-35s and projects to reach full operational readiness by February 2026.