USAF Flying Unit Markings Scrapbook

T-37 of the 89th Flying Training Squadron

Photos by Scott Zeno, Scott Jankowski, Bob Finch and Ken Kula

There’s a tradition in the US Air Force that one of each unit’s aircraft can be specially marked with the owning squadron/group/wing identity, normally on the tail. Many of these markings portray a flying unit, other times it will include a ground-based organization like a maintenance group. Sometimes it can involve the specific aircraft’s identification number combined with the flying unit too, a much rarer combination. Here are several groups of aircraft with unit IDs on them, each gallery contains a specific model of aircraft.

103rd Fighter Wing A-10 Thunderbolt II

Fairchild A-10 Units:

71st Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing F-15 Eagle

McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15 Units:

18th Aggressor Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon

General Dynamics F-16 Units:

27th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Fighter Wing Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor

Other USAF fighter types:

23rd Bomber Squadron of the 5th Bomb Wing Boeing B-52 Stratofortress