Editing Williams Air Force Base (section)

====F-5 Freedom Fighter====
In 1963, Williams was selected to support the Military Assistance Program [[F-5 Freedom Fighter|F-5A/B Freedom Fighter]] sales by providing pilots and maintenance training personnel to nations purchased the fighter under the MAP program.  The F-5 was a lightweight fighter designed for allied nations, and was not programmed for USAF use.  Initial deliveries, beginning in April 1964, were to the [[4441st Combat Crew Training Squadron]], which was activated to run the F-5 school.

The first overseas order for F-5As was from [[Norway]], which ordered 64 aircraft plus four attrition replacements on 28 February 1964.  Other nations whose pilots trained at Williams were [[South Vietnam]], [[Imperial State of Iran|Iran]], [[South Korea]], [[Greece]], [[Philippines]], [[Taiwan]], [[Turkey]], [[Morocco]], [[Pakistan]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Libya]], [[Jordan]],  [[Spain]] and [[Yemen]].

=====Skoshi Tiger Program=====
[[File:F-5B 602TFS BienHoa 1966.jpg|thumb|Skoshi Tiger F-5B of the 602th Fighter Squadron, Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam, 1966]]

Although all F-5A/B production was intended for MAP, the USAF actually requested at least 200 F-5s for use in the [[Vietnam War]]. This sudden request on the part of the USAF which had previously perceived no need for a lightweight fighter, was a result of heavier than expected attrition in [[Southeast Asia]] and because the F-5 promised to be available with a relatively short lead time. The USAF request for combat evaluation in Southeast Asia was approved by the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] (DoD) in July 1965, and the evaluation was initiated on 26 July 1965.

The program was given the code name "Skoshi Tiger", which was a corruption of "Sukoshi Tiger" (Japanese for "Little Tiger"). In October 1965, the USAF "borrowed" 12 combat-ready F-5As from MAP supplies (5 F-5A-15s and seven F-5A-20s) and activated the '''4503rd Tactical Fighter Wing (Provisional)''' at Williams for operational service trials. The 4503rd TFS (Provisional) was formed on 29 July 1965 to conduct the evaluation, and their pilots underwent training at Williams AFB while [[Northrop Corporation|Northrop]] modified the aircraft for duty in Southeast Asia.

The aircraft left Williams AFB on 20 October 1965 for Southeast Asia, arriving at [[Bien Hoa Air Base]] on 23 October. They flew their first combat mission the same afternoon.

Although the Freedom Fighter was judged to be a technical success in Vietnam, the Skoshi Tiger program was essentially a political project, designed to appease those few USAF officers who believed in the aircraft. The Freedom Fighter was destined to have a relatively brief operational career with the USAF, and the DoD turned down a second request for F-5s, deciding instead to look at other types such as the [[U.S. Navy]] [[A-7 Corsair II]]. The surviving F-5s were turned over to the South Vietnamese in March 1966.

After the Skoshi Tiger program, substantial numbers of Freedom Fighters were supplied to the [[Republic of Vietnam Air Force]]. The USAF directed ATC to initiate immediately a training program for South Vietnamese F-5 pilot replacements. The 4441st CCTS at Williams began this training on 15 April, although the base's training facilities were already saturated by the school's undergraduate program. The first Vietnamese crews left for Williams AFB for training in August 1966.

The 4441st CCTS was transferred to [[Tactical Air Command]] and re-designated as the [[425th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron]] on 15 October 1969.  It was placed under the [[58th Tactical Fighter Training Wing]] at [[Luke AFB]], Arizona, although the squadron physically remained at Williams AFB as a Geographically Separate Unit (GSU).

Training of South Vietnamese pilots on the F-5 continued until the collapse of the South Vietnamese government in April 1975, with some pilots being at Williams at the time of the [[fall of Saigon]].

=====F-5E/F Tiger II=====
[[File:425th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron Northrop F-5B-50-NO Freedom Fighter 72-0439 1973.jpg|thumb|425th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron Northrop F-5B-50-NO Freedom Fighter, AF Ser. No. 72-0439, Williams AFB, Arizona, 1973]]
[[File:425th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron - Northrop F-5E Tiger II 72-1400.jpg|thumb|425th TFTS Northrop F-5E Tiger II, AF Ser. No. 72-1400. When the F-5 training program ended in 1989, this aircraft was sold to the Brazilian Air Force.]]

On 4 April 1973, the first upgraded [[F-5 Tiger II]] reached the 425th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron. This squadron was assigned the task of training for crews that had acquired the F-5E under MAP. Pilots from over 20 nations trained at Williams throughout the 1970s and 1980s on the F-5E. The F-5E/Fs assigned to the 425th for training carried USAF serial numbers and were procured through normal aircraft procurement procedures and channels. It initially carried tail code "LZ". Aircraft were re-coded to the common wing "LA" in 1974.

Although the USAF never did adopt the F-5E as a front-line combat aircraft, it did adopt the F-5E as a specialized aircraft for [[dissimilar air combat training]] (DACT).  Beginning in 1975, some 70 F-5Es were turned over to the [[64th Fighter Squadron|64th]] and [[65th Fighter Weapons Squadron]]s of the [[57th Tactical Fighter Wing]] at [[Nellis AFB]], Nevada. F-5Es were allocated to two more units that were created overseas: the [[527th Aggressor Squadron]] of the 10th TRW in the UK at [[RAF Alconbury]] and the [[26th Aggressor Squadron]], 3rd TFW in the Philippines at [[Clark AB]].

The 425th TFTS was reassigned to the [[405th Tactical Training Wing]] as of 29 August 1979 when the 58th TTW was re-designated at Luke AFB.

The last two F-5Es off the production line were delivered to [[Bahrain]] on 16 January 1987. However, a few more were assembled from spares, the last ones being delivered on 29 June 1989. That month the squadron's F-5 training program terminated after having produced 1,499 graduates, and the 425th was inactivated 1 September 1989