"Fortune Favors the Bold"

Gunfighter History during Space War 1

With the arrival and subsequent reconstruction of the SDF-01 Macross, the VF-1 Valkyrie was designed and developed as Earth's first line of defense. Initial production units all went to units of the newly formed UN Spacy. Outcry from the joint navies and air forces around the world was fast and loud. No nation had put all their efforts into one branch of the armed forces, as was the case here. Eventually the decision was made to equip the UN Navy and Air Force with the new fighters. The 389^th, 390^th, and 391^st Fighter Squadrons of the Air Force's 366^th Wing and VF-41 and VF-84 of CVW-7 received their first units in August of 2005. Training began immediately, and the units began operational deployments in October.

Despite the unified world government, there were several outbreaks of civil unrest and one attempted coup. In each case, the units of the 366^th were on the forefront of the action. As technology continued to develop, so did the underground black market that traded them. Marauding groups of pirates were able to seize a few shuttles and transports. They raided convoys on bound for the moon and Mars bases. Although handled by the UN Spacy for the most part, any time these hostiles crossed over into the atmosphere, they came under the jurisdiction of the UN Air Force. Usually the 366^th was forward deployed to the areas where they were able to intercept and prosecute these groups.

In 2008, several Arab leaders joined forces to attempt to take over their lost lands in the Middle East. One part of that plan included taking control of the recently completed Oberth Destroyer UNSS ^Tsiolkovsky. While forces on the ground were successful in quickly defeating the conspirators ground and air units, the destroyer was successfully captured. In an unprecedented move, the UN Spacy asked for help from the Air Force and Navy in recapturing or destroying the ship.

Valkyries of the 366^th and 23^rd Wings deployed to the two moon bases while Navy squadrons were stationed at Mars Base Sara. This allowed the Spacy squadrons originally stationed there to deploy to the ARMD space carriers. Unfortunately. Spacy Intelligence was not able to successfully track the movements of the Tsiolkovsky for some time. It was only after several months that they were able to establish the rogue's headquarters in the asteroid belt. The Spacy was tired of playing cat and mouse with them, and decided to end the conflict once and for all. They deployed the entire fleet to remove the threat of these rebels for the last time. In doing so, they left Earth open to attack.

The Tsiolkovosky came in from the dark side of the moon on course for Earth. Its plan is still known to this day, but it is believed that the ORTEC Shipyards were their intended target. However, they never reached Earth. Hackers on board sliced into the network of satellites guarding the planet, and sent them false images. A pair of Valkyries from the 69^th Fighter Squadron of the 23^th Wing were the first to spot the ships. However, they were not fast enough to prevent the rogue's fleet from raking the moon bases with laser fire. Base Luna suffered severe damage to her launch bays, trapping the majority of the Flying Tigers underground. Base Copernicus sustained minimal damage and remained mostly operational. Fighters from the 366^th's squadrons scrambled to intercept the ships before they could reach the shipyards. Intense jamming cut the fighters off from each other as well as Earth Defense Command.

In the battle that followed, the Gunfighters disabled or destroyed all of the rebel's escorting ships and shuttles. The Tsiolkovsky escaped and made her way past the remains of her escorts. She heavily damaged the shipyards, and nearly destroyed the UNSS Miranda before the UN Spacy found out. They immediately launched an all out attack which drove the renegade destroyer away. Later she was intercepted and destroyed by the UNSS Goddard under the command of Captain Bruno J. Global.

The 366^th sustained 30% loses with the 390^th FS taking the brunt of the casualties. The UN Spacy was highly embarrassed by the entire affair. The actions of the 366^th lead the UN Defense Command to authorize Air Force and Navy units to deploy along side Spacy units beyond Earth's atmosphere.

The newly renamed 366^th Aerospace Wing replaced the 1^st Tactical Fighter Wing as the Air Force presence at Moon Base Luna in January of 2010. It was that deployment that lead to the survival of the Gunfighters. When the final battle of Space War One happened in February, 2010, the 366^th launched in defense of their world. They had recently upgraded to the Super Valkyrie in the fighter squadrons and Strike Valkyries in the bomber squadron. the 60 aerospacecraft of her units accounted for 37 Zentran capital ships as well as over 250 Battle Pods of all types. Their own loses were substantial with 80% of the Valkyries and 60% of their personal lost.

After the final truce was signed, the UN Spacy began to rebuild their forces on the remains of the old. The Air Force and Navy were absorbed by the Spacy to permit faster reconstruction.