Commanders
The list of commanders for the 51st Fighter Wing and its predecessors includes a wartime hero, Colonel Francis Gabreski, and an aviation pioneer, Tuskegee Airman Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Jr.
- Brig Gen Hugo P. Rush, 18 August 1948
- Col John F. Egan, 25 March 1949
- Col Richard M. Montgomery, 1 April 1949
- Col John W. Weltman, 19 September 1949
- Col Oliver G. Cellini, 24 April 1951
- Col William P. Litton, 1 November 1951 (Crashed 2 November 1951, on mission, missing and presumed dead)
- Col George R. Stanley, 2 November 1951
- Col Francis S. Gabreski, 6 November 1951
- Col John W. Mitchell, 13 June 1952
- Col William C. Clark, 31 May 1953
- Col Ernest H. Beverly, 9 August 1953
- Col William C. Clark, 11 September 1953
- Col Benjamin O. Davis Jr., ca. December 1953
- Col Barton M. Russell, 2 July 1954
- Col Travis Hoover, 1 August 1954
- Col Hilmer C. Nelson, 9 August 1954
- Col Edwin C. Ambrosen, 16 August 1954
- Col John H. Bell, 15 November 1955
- Col Paul E. Hoeper, 2 February 1957
- Col Robert L. Cardenas, 4 May 1957
- Col Walter V. Gresham Jr., 15 July 1957
- Col Elliott H. Reed, 1 August 1957
- Col Walter V. Gresham Jr., 15 August 1957
- Col Lester J. Johnsen, 22 November 1957
- Col William W. Ingenhutt, 25 March 1960
- Col Lester C. Hess, 24 July 1962
- Col Lloyd R. Larson, 11 June 1965
- Col Frank E. Angier, 8 April 1967
- Col John B. Weed, 13 June 1968
- Col Roy D. Carlson, 30 June 1968
- Col Hewitt E. Lovelace Jr., 1 November 1971
- Col John H. Allison, 1 August 1972
- Col Billie J. Norwood, 7 June 1973
- Col Alonzo L. Ferguson, 1 May 1974
- Col Glenn L. Nordin, 30 September 1974
- Col Vernon H. Sandrock, 12 August 1975
- Col Fred B. Hoenniger, 15 June 1977
- Col James T. Boddie Jr., 18 June 1979
- Col John C. Scheidt Jr., 16 May 1980
- Col Eugene Myers, 20 February 1981
- Col Thomas R. Olsen, 16 July 1982
- Col Marcus F. Cooper Jr., 26 May 1983
- Col Barry J. Howard, 18 October 1983
- Col Charles D. Link, 20 July 1984
- Col Henry J. Cochran, 12 August 1985
- Col John C. Marshall, 12 June 1987
- Col James J. Winters, 30 June 1989
- Col Thomas R. Case, 17 July 1990
- Brig Gen Robert G. Jenkins, 23 June 1992
- Brig Gen Robert H. Foglesong, 31 January 1994
- Brig Gen Steven R. Polk, 21 November 1995
- Brig Gen Paul R. Dordal, 15 May 1997
- Brig Gen Robert R. Dierker, 15 September 1998
- Brig Gen David E. Clary, 22 May 2000
- Brig Gen William L. Holland, 18 March 2002
- Brig Gen Maurice H. Forsyth, 29 September 2003
- Brig Gen Joseph Reynes Jr., 8 July 2005
- Col Jon A. Norman, 15 June 2007
- Col Thomas H. Deale, 15 October 2008
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