the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing was redesignated the 48th Fighter Wing, and the 492d, 493d, 494th and 495th became simply Fighter Squadrons. The 495th FS inactivated on 13 December 1991. In the midst of the organizational changes, the wing switched aircraft again, exchanging the F-111Fs for the F-15E Strike Eagle. On 21 February 1992, the first F-15E landed at Lakenheath, with the last F-111F departing for units within the US on 16 December 1992. The final F-15E arrived in June 1993 (actually early 2000s), and the wing achieved initial operational capability on 1 October 1993. With this mission change, the 493d Fighter Squadron inactivated on 1 January 1993, only to reactivate again on 1 January 1994. The squadron received its first maintenance trainer F-15C Eagle on 10 January 1994, then its full complement of F-15C & D aircraft by 22 July 1994. This marked the first time that the 48th had flown a specifically air-to-air weapon system, after flying for more than 50 years with an air-to-ground mission. Since September 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, various units of the 48th FW have deployed to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom and to Iraq to support Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn, and also to various other US allies such as South Korea. The wing participated in Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya in March 2011. One of the wing's F-15E aircraft crashed in Libya after an unapproved flight maneuver on 21 March 2011, but both crew members survived with minor injuries. An F-15C Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing crashed into the North Sea on 15 June 2020, killing the pilot on-board. On 1 October 2021, the 495th Fighter Squadron was reactivated as the 48th Fighter Wing's first F-35A unit. In 2021, the 48th Fighter Wing became the first unit outside of the contiguous United States to operate the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II, with two squadrons based at RAF Lakenheath. Lineage, assignments, components, bases, and aircraft Lineage Established as 48th Fighter-Bomber Wing on 25 June 1952 Activated on 10 July 1952 Redesignated: 48th Tactical Fighter Wing on 8 July 1958 Redesignated: 48th Fighter Wing on 1 October 1991 Assignments Twelfth Air Force, 10 July 1952 United States Air Forces in Europe, 1 January 1958 Third Air Force, 1 October 1959 United States Air Forces in Europe, 12 October 1959 Seventeenth