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The last visible signs of Operation Northern Watch, the enforcement of the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, came on 7 April when F-16CJ pilots from the 55th FS left Incirlik AB, Turkey, and returned home to Shaw AFB, South Carolina. The last official Operation Northern Watch mission came on 17 March, two days before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The pilots of the last aircraft out left Turkey with a wag of their wings. As part of the regular Aerospace Expeditionary Force rotation, the 55th FS had been part of more than 1,400 British, Turkish, and American troops and approximately fifty aircraft enforcing the no-fly zone in northern Iraq. Since ONW began in 1997, more than 40,000 troops had rotated through Incirlik to support the mission and more than 36,000 sorties were flown. Its predecessor, Operation Provide Comfort, began shortly after the Gulf War in 1991 and ended in 1996. More than 42,000 sorties were flown during that time. |
