Eagles in 1992. On 16 December 1992, the last F-111 departed the base. Along with its departure, the 493d FS was inactivated, but then reactivated as an F-15 Eagle squadron. On 2 March 2011, members of the 48th Security Forces Squadron were involved in a shooting at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The members were on a bus bound for Ramstein Air Base in Germany when they were attacked by a lone gunman. On 22 March 2011, F-15E 91-0304 crash-landed and was destroyed in eastern Libya after reportedly suffering from a mechanical failure. Both crewmen ejected and were safely recovered. On 7 January 2014, a Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk from the base crashed following a bird strike while on a low-level training exercise with another helicopter (also a Pave Hawk), into the Cley Marshes near Cley next the Sea on the nearby North Norfolk coast. All four occupants died in the crash. On 8 October 2014, F-15D 86-0182 belonging to the 493d Fighter Squadron crashed during a training flight in a field outside Spalding, Lincolnshire. The pilot successfully ejected and was shortly recovered back to Lakenheath on board a Pave Hawk. A U.S. Marine Corps Boeing F/A-18 Hornet of VMFA-232 "Red Devils" from MCAS Miramar, California, crashed after taking off from RAF Lakenheath on 21 October 2015. The pilot, Major Taj "Cabbie" Sareen (34), did not survive. In addition to supporting three combat-ready squadrons of fighter aircraft, the Liberty Wing housed the 56th Rescue Squadron's HH-60G combat search and rescue helicopters. The 56th Rescue Squadron re-located to Aviano Air Base in 2018. On 15 June 2020, an F-15C belonging to the 493d Fighter Squadron crashed during a training flight in the North Sea, 74 nautical miles east of Scarborough at about . The body of pilot 1st Lt. Kenneth Allen was found deceased. F-35 F-35A Lightning II In January 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that from 2020, Lakenheath would become home to 54 of the US Air Force's Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II multi-role fighters. The aircraft would be split between two squadrons and there would be an increase of 1,200 military personnel and between 60 and 100 civilian workers at the station. The F-35 would operate alongside the two existing F-15E squadrons based at Lakenheath. By November 2018, the number of aircraft had been revised to 48. The 495th Fighter Squadron was reactivated on 1 October 2021 to