History
349 (Belgian) squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron formed by Belgian personal at Ikeja, Nigeria on January 11th, 1943. The squadron was equipped with the Curtiss P-40B 'Tomahawk II' for local defence duties, but never realy came into an operational state.
On June 5th, 1943 the squadron was reformed at RAF Wittering with the Supermarine 'Spitfire' Mk. VA and became operational at RAF Digby in August of 1943 after moving from one base to another during June and July. The squadron moved to southern England to operate over France on bomber escorts and low-level sweeps.
In early 1944 it began to train as a fighter-bomber unit and then operated in this role in occupied Europe. During the invasion it carried out beach-head patrols and then was used as bomber escorts. In August of 1944 the squadron moved to France in the fighter-bomber role. It carried out armed reconnaissance missions behind enemy positions and attacked targets of opportunity (mainly vehicles).
In February of 1945 the squadron returned to England to convert to the Hawker 'Tempest' Mk. V. However this transition did not go as planned and the squadron re-gained it's Spitfire IXs. It moved to Belgium and was disbanded as an RAF unit on October 24th, 1946 on transfer to the Belgian Air Force.
Since the transeral to the Belgian Air Force, 349 squadron has always been in the forefront of fighter introductions in the force. The squadron was the first to introduce jet fighters within the Belgian Air Force with the introduction of the Gloster 'Meteor' F. Mk. 4 in May of 1949.
Exactly 30 years later the era of the General Dynamics F-16 'Fighting Falcon' also began with the squadron. Moreover it was the first squadron within NATO to become fully operational on the type in January of 1981. After leaving Beauvechain AB, where the squadron was based for 50 years, a new era started at Kleine Brogel AB from 1996 onwards. And again the squadron was the first to be re-equiped with a fighter, being the upgraded F-16 'Mid-Life Update', which it still flies untill this day.
The squadron took part in the NATO-led operations over Kosovo in 1999 dropping its first precision guided munitions. 349 pilots were deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, to fly in support of ISAF in 2005. This marked the first operational commitment outside of Europe. In 2005 and 2007 period, the squadron deployed to protect the airspace of the new Baltic NATO members in 2005 and 2007. Following the decision in 2008 of the Belgian government to send F-16 to Kandahar, Afghanistan, the squadron has flown more than 1000hrs in support of ISAF ground operations. In March 2011, the uprising in Libya led to an armed intervention by the Nato-led coalition forces. Pilots from 349 Squadron flew the very first Belgian sorties only hours after the approval of the higher chain of command. Since the start of the conflict, they have attacked numerous targets in order to safeguard the Libyan population. Once again, the squadron was the first to be deployed to a new theatre.
Today, 349 squadron flies the latest update of the F-16MLU: the “M-5” tape. This makes the F-16MLU one of the most capable platforms around with a fully integrated sensor suite, a choice of smart weapons and the helmet mounted cueing system amongst others.
