If you ask U.S. Air Force Maj. Eric Fiederer, he’ll tell you he knew the Rude Rams of the 34th Fighter Squadron couldn’t be kept down for too long.
And now, four years after Fiederer’s beloved squadron was put to bed indefinitely, the Air Force has validated his intuition — confirming last week that the currently inactive 34th FS of Hill Air Force Base in Utah will be returning to duty when the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II begins to arrive at the base.
Fiederer, who now serves as a reservist with Hill’s 466th Fighter Squadron, was a member of the 34th when it was officially deactivated in the summer of 2010. The closing came after an Air Force-wide money saving restructuring plan that called for the retirement of 259 aircraft including 112 Boeing F-15 Eagles, 138 Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons and nine Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt IIs.
For the complete story by Mitch Shaw of the (Ogden, Utah) Standard-Examiner, click here.
