Known as the "Lightning Lancers", on the morning of 27 June 1950 pilots of the 68th Fighter-All Weather Squadron flying the North American F-82 Twin Mustang made history by achieving the first aerial kill of the Korean War.

Established in early 1941 as part of the United States' defense buildup after the breakout of World War II in Europe.

Then, in October 1946, the squadron began search and patrol missions and participated in exercises and maneuvers out of various bases in Japan flying the P-51D Mustang.

Clearwater was designed to return overseas F-102 squadrons to United States in order to reduce "gold flow" (negative currency exchange).

Assigned to Florida in 1968 with TAC's control of Homestead Air Force Base, but deployed to South Korea in 1968 in the wake of the Pueblo Crisis.

Returned to the United States in late 1969; leaving F-4 Phantoms in South Korea and being re-equipped with F-100 Super Sabres in Louisiana before being reassigned to the Philippines in 1973 as an F-4E squadron at Clark Air Base.

The 68th was credited with the destruction of numerous 57 and 100 MM AAA guns, radar/cable relay stations, ammunition storage facilities, and surface-to-air missile sites.

Of particular note; during the first deployment the 68th delivered 14 GBU-12 and 6 GBU-10 laser-guided bombs on Iraqi targets with a perfect 100 percent hit rate for the entire rotation, a US Air Force record.