The 60th Fighter Squadron is an F-35 fighter squadron under the 33rd Fighter Wing which is currently housed at Eglin Air Force Base. The squadron, which had been inactive for 12 years, was reactivated in 2021. According to the 33rd Fighter Wing Website, the squadron – known as the “Fighting Crows” organized for the first time at Mitchell Field, in New York State in 1940. The Squadron then received orders to attach to the 33rd pursuit group in January of 1941. 

The squadron was then designated as the “Fighting Crows” and was initially tasked with Air Defense of American soil during World War II. In late 1942, the unit received orders to head to Southeast Asia to participate in combat against the Japanese military. The unit also saw action against the Italian military in Tunisia.  In 1944, the unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for combat operations. 

Since the end of the Second World War, the 60th Fighter Squadron saw deployments to Grenada and Panama. Both of those actions took place in the 1980s. Additionally, the “Fighting Crows” served in Desert Storm, Haiti and enforced the no-fly zone over Iraq.