314th Airlift Wing: Foundation of Combat Airlift

  • Published
  • By Tammy L. Reed
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Arkansas --  The 314th Airlift Wing takes pride in being the foundation of combat airlift at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, by training the world's best C-130 combat airlifters to fly, fight and win.

The 314th AW's vision for is to be the cornerstone of C-130 combat airlift excellence.

"The training we do here at the 314th affects every other C-130 unit in the mobility Air Force enterprise, whether that's Pacific Air Forces, or U.S. Air Forces in Europe, active, Guard or Reserve - folks are coming through Little Rock to get their training," said U.S. Air Force Col. James D. Dryjanski, 314th AW commander.

He said his Airmen should understand their importance, as it's easy to assume airpower just happens, just because they are good at it.  He added that in some sense this makes them victims of their own success by making combat airlift look easy.

"Well I have to tell you, there's nothing easy about landing on a dirt strip in Afghanistan, at night, on night vision goggles, when you absolutely have to deliver supplies or get a user to their objective," he emphasized.  "They should take great pride in what they do."

Belief in their mission also comes from shredding that old adage, "those who can, do; those who can't, teach," as the wing was built on a long history of providing airlift support to dire combat situations before becoming a training wing.

The 314th AW's origins are based in the 314th Transport Group at Drew Field, Fla., in 1942 flying C-47 transports. The group transitioned to a Troop Carrier Group shortly thereafter while training to deliver troops and to tow gliders to heavy combat situations.

Throughout the last 73 years, the 314th TCG changed its designation many times before becoming the 314th AW. Traveling the globe, the wing also honed its airlift skills through such historic missions as World War II battles in Sicily, Italy, in 1943, to humanitarian aid for Somalia in 1992 and Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005. In 1971, the 314th landed at Little Rock Air Force Base, where it began training C-130 crews as part of its mission. The wing's airframes changed many times as well throughout the years, as it flew aircraft such as C-119 Flying Boxcars and C-123Bs before adding C-130s to its flightline in 1957. 

Currently, the 314th AW falls under the Air Education and Training Command, where it has focused solely on training U.S. Air Force and international Airmen combat airlift since 1997. 

The wing consists of maintenance and operations groups, and an aircraft maintenance squadron, as well as the 48th Airlift Squadron flying C-130Js, the 62nd Airlift Squadron flying C-130Hs and the 714th Training Squadron.

The 714th TRS manages the $1.05 billion flight simulator contracts and oversees 45 training syllabi covering 79 specialized graduate-level flying training courses.

An average 1250 students come to them a year to learn how to fly a C-130 specifically after basic flight school, according to U.S. Air Force Capt. Andrew Hutchinson, 48th Airlift Squadron instructor pilot. Pilots start their training in flight simulators to get instrument qualified and tactical simulations, too.

"Once they are done with that, they come to us for their mission qualification training, which includes max effort, takeoffs, assault landings, formation flying and airdrop," Hutchinson said. "They get trained in all the different styles of airdrops you can do. We also throw a lot of different scenarios at them. Early in the program, it's fairly simple, but as time goes on, they get more involved as we put two to maybe three (challenges) that could actually affect their flying."

The 48th AS is also responsible for training loadmasters who often fly with student pilots and their instructors.  They not only teach new loadmasters, but also loadmasters converting to the newer C-130J.

"For the C-130J, there are no engineers or navigators, so the loadmasters fill in some responsibilities for those roles," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Dave Hoffer, 48th AS instructor loadmaster. "They are now a more integral part of the crew, than in the H model. When you become a J model loadmaster you sit up front ... with a lot more responsibility."

The 62nd AS supports Arkansas Air National Guard's 189th Airlift Wing with C-130H flightline training and augments them while the wing grows as it assumes all flightline training for the Air Force's legacy C-130H fleet.

"There's really a symbiotic relationship here," Dryjanski said, adding that teamwork is not just about small crews on the flightline, or about how small crews operate in the air.

"It's also about how squadrons come together, how our groups work together, and how this wing works alongside our partners here at Team Little Rock - the 19th Airlift Wing, the 189th Airlift Wing and the 913th Airlift Group," he said. "The mission hasn't changed. We still produce combat airlifters here, and our mission is to provide the world's best C-130 combat airlift training."