HILL AIR FORCE BASE — This year marks the 80th anniversary of Hill Air Force Base.

And during those eight decades, an abundance of important events have unfolded to make Hill one of the largest military installations in the United States.

There was the mid-20th century emergence of the 388th Bomber-Fighter Wing, which would eventually transform the base into of the Air Force’s premier fighter jet location. Tied to the fighter wing was the establishment of Hill’s Utah Test and Training Range, where planes and military units from all over the globe come to train. There was the 1970s creation of the Ogden Air Logistics Center (now know as the Ogden Air Logistics Complex), where thousands of military planes have been repaired and overhauled. Hill’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program has also been paramount. The program continues to evolve and will bring more than 2,500 jobs to Northern Utah during the next few years.

But one of the most significant events of the past 80 years at Hill happened not even five years ago: the arrival of the Air Force’s first wave of combat-ready F-35s.

The base was tabbed as the Air Force’s preferred home for the F-35 in December 2013 after a four-year environmental review process. On Sept. 2, 2015, Hill received its first two Lightning IIs. Since then, the base has received approximately one to two jets every month. Micah Garbarino, 388th Fighter Wing spokesman, said the base now has its full arsenal of 78 F-35s, accepting the final jet from defense contractor Lockheed Martin last December.

Col. Steven Behmer, 388th FW commander, called the day “a great milestone.”

“It marks the end of the beginning for us,” Behmer said. “Since receiving our first aircraft, our airmen, alongside the 419th Fighter Wing, have remained focused on expanding the combat capabilities of the F-35A.”

The base’s three fighter squadrons — the 4th, 34th and 421st — each have 24 F-35As, with another six backup aircraft stored at the base. Garbarino said the F-35 mission at Hill added more than 400 personnel and generates an estimated $47 million to the Northern Utah economy every year.

When the first two jets arrived more than four years ago, Brig. Gen. David B. Lyons, who now works in the Pentagon as senior military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, called the F-35 “a new dawn for Hill Air Force Base.” Lyons served as commander of the 388th FW in 2015.

The sentiment has proven to be true.

In November 2019, a group of airmen from Hill returned after a six-month deployment in the Middle East. Members of Hill’s 388th and 419th fighter wings returned from Al-Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, a deployment that marked the first time the Air Force’s F-35A Lightning II jets performed a real-world combat mission. Supporting the Combined Joint Task Force’s Operation Inherent Resolve mission, the group performed several missions, including close air support and “regional deterrence against aggressors,” according to a press release from Hill.

The squadron completed at least two combat strikes on enemy forces.

In September 2019, F-35s and pilots from Hill were part of a group that dropped about 80,000 pounds of bombs on Qanus Island in Iraq — a spot that has been used as a hideout by the Islamic State. In April 2019, Hill F-35 pilots conducted an air strike at Wadi Ashai, Iraq, hitting a long-established ISIS tunnel network and weapons cache in a remote area of the Hamrin Mountains. At the time, Air Force officials said the strike marked the jet’s first real-world combat strike.

Shortly after the first group returned from the Middle East, a second F-35 crew from Hill deployed to the area. Late last year, pilots and active duty personnel from the 34th FS and the reserve 466th FS deployed to the same region. The crew also includes active duty and reserve airmen in the 34th Aircraft Maintenance Unit and personnel in other support functions. The team remains deployed in the region today.

F-35 units also have deployed to Royal Air Force Lakenheath in April 2017, as well as Kadena Air Base, Japan, in fall 2017.

“We have an amazing organization here,” said 388th Chief Master Sgt. Dan Taylor. “It pumps me up coming to work every day.”