The 53rd Fighter Squadron (53 FS) is an active unit of the USAF, stationed at Joint Base Andrews, MD. Assigned to the 495th Fighter Group, the squadron was last activated on 10 December 2021, as an associate unit to the 113th Wing’s 121st Fighter Squadron. It was previously assigned to the 52nd Operations Group and stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, from where it operated the McDonnell Douglas F-15C/D Eagle until its inactivation on 31 March 1999. Serving in WWII (Caribbean Defense and European Theater) to the COLD WAR (1946-1993), the 53rd Fighter Squadron was eventually relieved from assignment to the 36th Operations Group on 1 February 1994. It was in non-operations status until it was reassigned to the 52nd Operations Group (52 FW) at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany on 25 February 1994. At Spangdahlem the squadron supported no-fly zone operations over Bosnia and northern Iraq, as well as other combat operations. It was during the squadron’s support of the no-fly zone in northern Iraq that two of its fighters were involved in the 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident. The squadron was inactivated in March 1999 as a result of an Air Force-wide reorganization to enlarge F-15 squadrons from 18 to 24 aircraft. Six of the squadron’s Eagles were reassigned to the 493d Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, and the rest returned to the US. On 10 December 2021, the 53 FS was activated at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as an associate unit of the 113th Wing’s 121st Fighter Squadron. This is the desert version of the squadron patch for the 53rd Fighter Squadron and does not come with velcro attached
