125th Fighter Squadron [125th FS]
Organized in December 1940 as Oklahoma National Guard's first flying unit in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the 125th Observation Squadron was federally recognized in January 1941. For the next three and a half years the squadron was attached to the 77th Observation Group and the 76th Tactical Reconnaissance Group at various locales in the United States before arriving at Liverpool, England on D-Day in 1944. After moving across the English Channel to France in August 1944, the 125th Liaison Squadron was attached to the Ninth Army until V-E Day, participating in the campaigns of northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and central Europe, and was awarded the Belgian Fourragere for gallantry during the Battle of the Bulge in July 1945. Over the course of those five years, the 125th flew the 0-38E, 0-52 and L-5.
Back in Tulsa in November 1945 as the 125th Fighter Squadron, the Unit flew the F-51 until February 1947 when it was designated the 125th Fighter Bomber Squadron (Jet) and equipped with the F-84. After receiving the Spaatz Trophy Award in 1950, the 125th was again ordered to active duty under the Ninth Air Force and sent Alexandria, Louisiana until July 1952. After returning to Tulsa under state control the squadron flew the F-51 and F-80 until becoming part of the 138th Fighter Group (AD) for duty with the Air Defense Command flying the F-86D in August 1957.
January 1960 brought significant change to the 125th as the unit was designated the 125th Air Transport Squadron and assigned to the 137th Air Transport Wing in Oklahoma City. For the next eight years the unit flew the C-97, transporting cargo to Vietnam and throughout the world before converting to the C-124 in 1968.
On September 29, 2002 The Tulsa World reported that the 125th Fighter Squadron, 138th FW had deployed over 200 airmen to Turkey to help enforce the Northern Watch No-Fly Zone. The deployment is expected to last roughly one month.
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