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  • Happy birthday to the 41st Airlift Squadron! Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 41st Transport Squadron activated at Duncan Field, Texas, Feb. 18, 1942. The unit redesignated later in the year as the 41st Troop Carrier Squadron. During World War II, the 41st TCS participated in Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s island hopping force in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Crews ferried supplies and personnel from Australia to New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa. Since WWII, crews from the 41st Airlift Squadron have participated in the Berlin Airlift, the Vietnam War, and the Pueblo Crisis in Korea, as well as many other incidents including the Global War on Terror. Since 1942, the 41st AS has only had three years of inactivity.

    History Fast Fact: Feb. 18

  • Little Rock Air Force Base's first installation commander, Col. Joseph A. Thomas, arrived Feb. 8, 1954. Thomas arrived three months into base construction during a time when local union members were picketing the base for non-payment for overtime worked. While Thomas oversaw construction and solved labor problems, his primary mission was to promote an environment of community understanding and acceptance. Before Thomas' death June 28, 1955, he oversaw the completion of the gas distribution system, several buildings, and railroad system.

    History Fast Fact: Feb. 8

  • Happy birthday 19th Operations Support Squadron. The 19th OSS originally activated as the 19th Airdrome Squadron at Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky, on January 4, 1943. During World War II, an airdrome squadron was a barebones airfield operations unit, capable of running a new or small airfield in the absence of the kind of larger service establishment that would be associated with one or more combat or training groups. As such, they were generally short-lived units cobbled together for specific missions.

    History Fast Fact: Jan. 4

  • January 29, 1956: In January 1956, base leadership approved the selection of a new name for Little Rock Air Force Base. The memorialization board of officers considered 17 individuals. After months of research, the board chose to redesignate the base after Col. John R. Fordyce, Jr. Fordyce was a native of Little Rock and had served seven years with the Navy before enlisting with the 154th Observation Squadron, a direct ancestor of the 189th Airlift Wing. During World War II, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while leading the 320th Bombardment Group on its first combat mission in April 1943. Final approval was needed from Air Force Headquarters, but because of the growing diversity of opinion on the numerous nominations, the action was suspended to avoid unfavorable reflection on the Air Force. The director of military personnel chose to suspend the memorialization action indefinitely and retain the Little Rock AFB designation. Pictured: Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker (left), visiting with the men in Montesquieu, Algeria on May 11, 1943. He is seen here with Lt. Col. John R. Fordyce.

    History Fast Fact: Jan. 29

  • On Jan. 20, 1941, the 19th Bombardment Group performed an overflight at the third inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The group's B-17s were among 278 Army and Navy aircraft that crisscrossed the parade route for 45 minutes before the start of the inaugural parade.

    History Fast Fact: Jan. 20

  • (left) On Jan. 16, 1970, the Strategic Air Command retired its last B-58 Hustler. Two bombers from the 43rd Bombardment Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and two from the 305th Bombardment Wing at Grissom AFB, Indiana, flew to the aircraft storage facility at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. (right) Forty-three years after the last B-58 left Little Rock AFB, Col. Tom Crimmins, a former 19th Airlift Wing vice commander, dedicated B-58 with tail number 55-0668 May 3, 2013, as the newest addition to Heritage Park. The B-58, also known by its nicknames "Wild Child II" and "Peeping Tom," is the only combat-veteran Hustler having made an overflight of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

    History Fast Fact: Jan. 16

  • Little Rock's downrange black-letter beast

    A U.S. Air Force Airman assigned to the 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Aircraft Maintenance Unit waves the American flag as a C-130J taxis to the runway in Black Letter Initial status Nov. 12, 2014 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The aircraft was named "Black Letter Beast" by the maintenance crew that

  • Altitude chamber takes its last breath

    Senior Airman Devin Theis, a 19th Aerospace Medicine Squadron high-altitude airdrop missions technician, instructs Airmen on the proper use of an oxygen mask during altitude training Dec. 8, 2014, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Students undergo hypobaric chamber training to experience the effects of high altitude on
  • Emblem of the 314th Troop Carrier Group/Wing (1942-1954) (Courtesy Photo)

    Combat Airlift Help Dates Back to Korea

    On Dec. 7, 1950, an event unique in the history of combat airlift occurred in the skies over North Korea.  For the first and only time in military history, a bridge was airdropped to ground forces below.On Oct. 19, 1950, hundreds of thousands of communist Chinese  troops of the "People's Volunteer Army" began slipping across the Yalu River into

  • "After 59 years, Little Rock AFB is still home"

    Retired Maj. Julius Budelis has shared a love for his wife and Little Rock Air Force Base for almost 60 years. Budelis is one of the few people who can recall being stationed at "The Rock" the same year the base opened. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Harry Brexel)  Retired Maj. Julius Budelis has shared a love
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