A retired F-16 fighter will soon grace the base entrance of the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth. The static display is made possible through the donations of local businesses and community groups, reports Duluth’s WDIO TV news station. The F-16 will be angled to look as if it’s getting ready to take off. Work on the display will begin in a few weeks and is expected to take about two months to finish. The wing operates F-16 Block 50 aircraft, having swapped out its older F-16 Block 25s for the newer airframes.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.