Editing Williams Air Force Base (section)

=====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