Photo by Warner Montgomery The South Carolina Air National Guard unveiled a full–size F–16 Fighting Falcon static display aircraft in a ceremony Friday, October 2 at McEntire Joint National Guard Base.

The aircraft will be on display just inside the base’s main gate on Garner’s Ferry Road.

The South Carolina ANG has a long and distinguished history of service in the F–16, dating back to 1983. The unit flew nearly 2,000 combat missions in the F–16A during Operation Desert Storm in early 1990 and more than 600 missions over Afghanistan and Iraq and in the F–16C during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

The F–16 jet display specifically honors the memory of Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire, the SCANG’s first commander, and Master Sgt. Troy White. McEntire was killed in 1961 in an F–104 crash, and the base was later renamed in his honor. White, an F–16 crew chief, died in October 2004 in a private aircraft accident. The names of McEntire and White are stenciled on the jet’s canopy rail in the traditional place of a fighter jet’s pilot and crew chief.