In June 1954 the USAF’s World Wide Weapons Meet now known as “William Tell” began as a separate air-to-air rocketry competition to the Third Annual
USAF Fighter gunnery and Weapons Meet that was held at Las Vegas AFB (later
renamed as Nellis AFB). This Interceptor Phase of the Las Vegas based
competition would be held at Yuma, AZ. The Air Defense Command and Air
Training Command were the sole competitors of the first meet. In 1956, the
meet was unofficially given the name of "William Tell" and had expanded to
include nine teams representing seven major air commands. This third meet
was the last held in Arizona.
Two
years later, Tyndall AFB, Fla., became the home for the USAF Worldwide
Air-to-Air Weapons Meet. The radio controlled Q-2A drone target and the
PARAMI, an electronic scoring system, made their first appearances during
this meet and for the first time, competitors were divided into three
categories, one for each aircraft participating. Twelve teams competed in
the 1958 meet and among them was an Air National Guard unit competing for
the first time.
For
the 1961 William Tell, three jets specifically designed for protecting North
America appeared on the flight line; the F-102 Delta Dagger, the F-106 Delta
Dart and the F-101 Voodoo. William Tell 1965 was the largest in history with
16 teams and four categories. Canada became the first foreign country to
participate in William Tell and entered with the CF-101 Voodoo's. After a
five-year period, imposed by the Vietnam War, William Tell resumed at
Tyndall AFB with nine teams competing.
The
1972 meet was the year of the first "Top Gun" award, and the introduction of
the subsonic BQM-34A Firebee target drone into the competition. The 1974
composition saw the Air National Guard teams take first place in three major
categories and in 1976, the ANG continued its winning streak in two of the
three. The F-4 Phantom II made its first appearance in the
meet in 1976, The F-4 unit was the first Team sent by the Tactical Air
Command .
With
the reorganization of air defense forces in 1979, TAC assumed sponsorship
for William Tell. The first TAC-sponsored meet in 1980 included 10 teams
from active duty F-4 and F-106 units, ANG F-4, F-106 and F-101 units, and a
Canadian Forces CF-101 unit.
In 1982, Tactical Air Command officially changed the name of the meet to
the USAF Air-to-Air Weapons Meet. That meet also marked the return of the
Pacific Air Forces and the USAF in Europe to the competition, and the first
appearance of the F-15 "Eagle". William Tell 1984 saw the introduction of
the supersonic QF-100 full-scale drone as a William Tell target and was the
first meet in which only full-scale drones were used as missile targets. In
1986, the CF-18 entered in the competition for the first time with the
Canadian team, finishing second overall behind a TAC F-15 Team.
During the 1988 meet a total of twelve teams from TAC, ANG, PACAF, USAFE,
Alaskan Air Command and Canada participated in on of the most competitive
meets ever
The
1990 competition was canceled due to Operation Desert Shield/Storm and
resumed in 1992, held by the newly formed Air Combat Command. Eight teams
competed and the 18th Wing from Kadena AB, Japan, walked away with the top
team award for the second time.
Hosted by Air combat Command and the
US Air Force Air Warfare Center, William Tell 94 gave the USAF's best
fighter units the opportunity to compete in all aspects of air-to-air
operations.
Beginning in 1996, Teams that attended the
William tell Weapons Meet were to be assembled differently than the had
been in the past. In previous Meets teams competed as units (Squadrons or
Wings) , in the 1996 each major Command, the Air Force Reserve, the Air
National Guard, and a combined Canadian team would compete against each
other for the right to be known as the best in the Air.
After an eight year break , the Air Combat
Command announced it would host the next William Tell in the first weeks of
November of 2004, meets 50th Anniversary. The 2004, massive changes will
appear in the latest edition of William Tell. Moving away from it's roots
as a interceptor competition the latest edition of the meet will test
aircrew performance in the air dominance and air sovereignty missions, but
will still feature weapons loading, maintenance and weapons’ director
competitions. The two-week event will showcase the air-to-air capabilities
of USAF F-15 units representing four major commands and the Air National
Guard. |
