At the end of World War II, the 74^th Fighter Squadron, like so many other flying units, was recalled to the United States and deactivated. It was reactivated after just 10 months, standing up in Guam on October 10^th, 1946. The Flying Tigers flew the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt under the command of 20^th Air Force, Far East Air Forces, until April 1949, when the squadron made the transition to the RF-80 Shooting Star and moved to Howard AFB in the Panama Canal Zone. The Tigers’ stint in Panama proved to be short lived, as the squadron was deactivated in September of the same year.

In January 1951 the 74^th was re-designated a Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and moved north. The Flying Tigers, based at Presque Isle AFB, Maine, were equipped with the world’s best dogfighter: North American’s F-86 Sabre. In 1952 the unit transitioned to the two-seat, all-weather Northrop F-89 Scorpion, a type it would fly until its deactivation in 1958, by which time the squadron was based at Thule AB, Greenland.

The 74^th remained inactive until July 1972, when it was reunited with its World War II sister squadrons, the 75^th and 76^th, under the 23^rd Tactical Fighter Wing at England AFB, Louisiana. The Tigers, flying the Vought A-7D Corsair II, deployed to Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base in July 1973, and accounted for the destruction of 311 enemy structures, 25 ground artillery and missile sites, three bridges and 9,500 cubic meters of supplies. For its contribution the 74^th earned the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm.

The Flying Tigers ushered in a new era in December 1980, when they took delivery of their first Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. Less than a year after accepting its new jet the 23^rd Tactical Fighter Wing captured top honors in Ninth Air Force’s tactical bombing competition and won six of nine events in Gunsmoke ’81, including top maintenance and munitions awards, and was the top A-10 unit in the shootout. The 23^rd TFW reappeared in Gunsmoke competitions for the next eight years.

In August 1990 the 74^th TFS deployed (along with the 76^th) to King Fahd International Airport, Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield/Storm. The 23^rd TFW Tigers flew more than 2,700 combat sorties over Iraq and Kuwait, making substantial contributions to the A-10’s impressive war-time performance: 987 tanks, 926 artillery pieces, 500 armored personnel carriers, 1106 trucks, 112 military structures, 96 radars, 72 bunkers, 50 anti-aircraft batteries, 28 command posts, 11 FROG missiles, 9 SAM sites, and 12 aircraft destroyed.

While the Tigers were in Southwest Asia, Congress decided that England AFB would close no later than September 1992. Accordingly, 23^rd Fighter Wing was inactivated on June 1, 1992 and stood up the same day as the 23^rd Wing at Pope AFB, North Carolina.

With the move to Pope, the 74^th FS transitioned to the F-16, the 75^th retained the A-10, and the 76^th stood down (later activated as the 76^th Space Command Squadron). The 74^th flew F-16s for nearly five years before returning to the A-10, in April 1997, when the 23^rd Wing once again became the 23^rd Fighter Group.

In April 1999, the 74^th FS deployed five aircraft and 60 personnel to Operation ALLIED FORCE, the NATO air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia intended to stop Serbia’s ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians. Designated the 74^th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, the unit joined A-10s from Spangdahlem’s 81^st EFS and flew close air support and forward air control missions against Serbian army targets in Kosovo.

In March 2002, the 74^th landed the first fighter aircraft inside Afghanistan, deploying from Al Jaber AB, Kuwait in support of Operation Anaconda. Operating from an austere air base at Bagram, the 74^th flew 200 sorties in Afghanistan, expending ten tons of bombs, 50 rockets, and 3000 rounds of 30mm ammunition. The Flying Tigers inflicted hundreds of casualties on the terrorists of al-Qaeda and their Taliban supporters. Their superb performance was duly recognized—they earned 16 Distinguished Flying Crosses, ten Bronze Star Medals, and 22 Air Medals.