An F-35A Lightning II, assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, takes off. (U.S. Air Force photo by Anthony Pham)

419th Fighter Wing News

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  • Idaho deployment to push F-35 limits

    Seven F-35A aircraft and 160 personnel from Hill Air Force Base will depart this week for rigorous operational testing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, through June 17. This marks the first time Hill's operational F-35s will travel out of state for training.The F-35A pilots and maintainers

  • Hill Airmen return from Afghanistan

     Nearly 300 active duty and Reserve Airmen assigned to the 421st Fighter Squadron, known as the Black Widows, returned here Tuesday following a nearly eight-month deployment to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The 421st FS spent more than 10,000 hours in the skies, flying 2,800 sorties and dropping

  • Hill F-35s form up for combat training

      F-35 pilots here began flying routine four-ship combat training missions at the Utah Test and Training range in the west desert this week. Active duty and Reserve pilots from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings will use the jet’s intricate computer network to evade a series of simulated threats.

  • Reservist talks ‘maintainer’s dream’

    Staff Sgt. Aaron Ramirez, 419th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, is an aircraft armament systems team chief, better known as a weapons loader. At 25, he’s wrapping up a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, raising a family, and working on the Air Force’s newest fighter jet, the F-35 Lightning II. I

  • EOD team home after six-month deployment

    Four reservists from the 419th Fighter Wing’s explosive ordnance disposal flight returned April 27 from a six-month deployment to Southwest Asia.   While overseas, the reservists worked with active-duty counterparts deployed from Hill Air Force Base’s 775th EOD flight. The Airmen responded to

  • 419th first sergeant named best in AFRC

    Senior Master Sgt. Matthew Mason, 419th Maintenance Squadron, was named Air Force Reserve Command’s First Sergeant of the Year at a ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida, April 16.   In 2015, Mason dedicated more than 500 hours of personal time to taking care of Airmen and their families. He identified

  • Reservists tutor students while deployed

    Air Force reservists from the 419th Fighter Wing are teaching Spanish to high school students at an American school near their deployed location in Southwest Asia. Senior Airman Daniel Gomez-Moyado and Senior Airman Manuel Medrano, 419th Logistics Readiness Squadron, volunteer during their off-duty

  • Hero2Hired job fair open to reservists

    A Hero2Hired job fair will take place May 26 at Layton’s Davis Conference Center, 1651 North 700 West. The free event aims to connect local employers with reservists, Guard members, veterans, active-duty members, and their spouses. The event features dozens of employers who recognize the unique

  • Pilot takes final flight in F-16

    Col. David Castaneda, 419th Fighter Wing pilot, took his final flight in the F-16 Fighting Falcon here April 2. Family and coworkers gathered on Hill’s flightline to congratulate Castaneda on his achievement during the wing’s drill weekend.   The newly promoted colonel leaves this month to learn to

  • Hill Airmen play out tricky scenario

    Security forces and explosive ordnance disposal personnel from the 419th Fighter Wing recently teamed up for an exercise to learn how to respond when local citizens at deployed locations turn in weapons from the streets to security checkpoints.   It’s common for local nationals in countries such as