Photos

Clear Filters | 1 - 20 of 28 results

Happy 77th Birthday 34th Combat Training Squadron

September 1, 2017, marked 77 years since the activation of the 34th School Squadron, forerunner to today’s 34th Combat Training Squadron. Just a few weeks after the U.S. entered the Second World War in December 1941, the unit was redesignated the 34th Technical School Squadron. And for more than three-and-a-half years, unit instructors taught radio repair and radio operator courses to students bound for either the European or Pacific Theaters of war. In 1981, 37 years after disbanding, the 34th was reactivated as a Technical Training Squadron at Little Rock AFB. And the Air Force approved the unit’s emblem on the left shortly afterward in 1982. At that time, the 34th TTS was responsible for all academic, simulator refresher, and instructor training in C-130 tactical airlift. From 1994-2003, it was redesignated the Air Force’s Combat Aerial Delivery School (or CADS); and the 34th Combat Training Squadron in 2003, which it has remained for 14 years, providing joint mobility training for combat Airmen and soldiers. As you can see on the current emblem – the most recent rendition of it approved in 2012 – the 34th’s motto is, “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” (sē-ˈwēs-ˈpä-ˌkem ˈpä-rä-ˈbe-ˌlu̇m\), a Latin quote meaning, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
Details Download

Happy 69th Birthday to 19th Airlift Wing

Before it was the 19th Airlift Wing, it served as the 19th Air Refueling Wing, and before that the 19th Bombardment Wing, that unit having activated 69 years ago. Its forebear, the 19th Bombardment Group, is one of thirteen original combat air groups – still active – formed by the U.S. Army prior to World War II. That is a legacy bestowed on us, meaning we are indeed in rare company. After nearly 21 years functioning as a Group, including distinctive service in the Second World War, the newly independent Air Force formed the 19th Bombardment Wing in 1948, where it served that mission for 35 years. It operated B-29s in Korea and B-52s in Vietnam, and throughout the height of the Cold War was constantly deployed to bases across the globe to protect against the threats of Soviet aggression. In 1983, the Air Force redesignated the 19th as an Air Refueling Wing. It performed that mission at Robins AFB for 25 years, even after redesignating as the 19th Air Refueling Group in 1996. The Wing and Group supported operations in Central America in the 1980s, the First Gulf War in the 1990s, and in Iraq and Afghanistan following the attacks on September 11th. In 2008, the 19th Airlift Wing stood up as the host unit at LRAFB, where it has delivered combat and humanitarian airlift, almost literally the world over, in its mere nine years at “The Rock,” and only adding to the esteemed legacy of the 19th
Details Download

August 1945: 19 BG and the End of World War II

The 19th Bombardment Group served two tours in the Pacific Theater, split by stateside training from 1942-1944. When the unit returned to the Pacific in late-1944 and early-1945, it did so equipped with the B-29 Superfortress. (The unit had operated the B-17 when it was first sent overseas in 1941.) The group and its squadrons fell under Major General Curtis LeMay’s 21st Bomber Command, and participated in a total of 65 bombing raid missions and incendiary attacks over the Japanese home islands. It flew its last mission on August 14th, five days after the dropping of the second atomic bomb, and on the return run the crews learned of Japan’s unconditional surrender. With that, the 19th BG has the unique distinction of flying both the first and last bomber missions of World War II, and it was well-represented at the Tokyo Bay surrender ceremonies the following month. After the fighting was over, 19 BG crews also dropped supplies to Allied POWs located in camps near Tokyo – a nod, I like to believe, to the 19th’s eventual airlift mission. Perhaps more importantly, despite the massive demobilization efforts following the war, the 19 BG was one of a select number of Army Air Force units to remain activated, later assigned as the operational flying unit for the newly-formed 19th Bombardment Wing in 1948.
Details Download

August 10, 1964: Arrival of first B-58 Hustler to LRAFB

For the first fifteen years of its existence, LRAFB served as a bomber base under the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command – or SAC, as it is still commonly referred to. The earliest units here operated the B-47 Stratojet; and when the B-47 era ended in 1964, the USAF relocated the 43d BW from Carswell AFB, Texas to “The Rock,” bringing with it a new jet bomber: the supersonic B-58 Hustler. The first B-58 touched down here 53 years ago August 10, 1964. B-58 crews stationed here provided strategic bombardment readiness for nearly five and a half years before the Air Force began retiring the aging fleet. The 43d BW retired its last B-58 in January 1970 before officially inactivating. These moves signaled the conversion of Little Rock AFB’s primary mission from strategic deterrence to a new one: tactical airlift – and the Hustler was replaced by the Hercules. And for the past 47 years – since the departure of the last B-58 in 1970 – LRAFB has operated as a C-130 installation; but it’s worth recalling those early bombardment years that established the base’s prominent reputation within the Air Force as well as solidifying its ties with the local community that stretch back to the base’s roots beginning in the early-1950s.
Details Download

July 26, 1947: Truman signs National Security Act

Exactly seventy years ago, on July 26, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed into law the National Security Act. This act ultimately led to the creation of today’s Department of Defense by merging the War Department and Navy Department into a single agency collectively overseeing the country’s security, an effort sought by many advocates following the country’s involvement in the Second World War. Especially noteworthy for most in this room is the bill’s establishment of a “Department of the Air Force,” to be composed of personnel from the Army Air Forces, the U.S. Army Air Corps, and the Air Force Combat Command. World War II had also demonstrated the value of military airpower as well as justification for an air force military branch. The same day that Truman signed the Congressionally-approved National Security Act, he also issued Executive Order 9877 that listed the primary functions of each armed service branch, including the United States Air Force.
Details Download

July 25, 1968: 19 BW Adopts “Black Knights” Mascot

The Black Knight mascot originated in 1961 when the 4137th Strategic Wing won the Best Overall Wing Award during Strategic Air Command’s Combat Competition at Fairchild AFB, Washington. Along with increased rank and pay that came with the honor, the team received an unusual trophy: a six-foot-tall papier-mâché knight, donated by the Spokane Chamber of Commerce. From that moment on, the 4137th Wing began identifying as the Black Knights, and they brought the papier-mâché knight back home to Robins AFB, Georgia. Two years later, following inactivation of the 4137 SW, the Black Knight mascot passed on to the 465th Bombardment Wing, and when the 465th inactivated five years after that, the newly activated 19th Bombardment Wing – part of our heritage – adopted the mascot. That occurred this week in 1968, 49 years ago. But that’s not the end of the story. When the 19th BW moved from Homestead AFB to Robins AFB, it did so without personnel or resources, and it assumed the inactivating 465 BWs B-52 mission. Now, for whatever reason, former members of the 465 BW, now assigned to the 19 BW, apparently weren’t all that interested in carrying forward the previous 19th mascot: the Old Crow. And so, the Black Knights remained; and they did so when the 19th transitioned from a Bombardment Wing to an Air Refueling Wing, and again when it stood up here at “The Rock” as the 19th Airlift Wing.
Details Download

July 13-21, 1921 Airpower Trials

During July 13-21, 1921, crews from the 1st Provisional Air Brigade at Langley Field, Virginia – commanded by Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell demonstrated that the airplane could be used as an advanced wartime weapon. Since the end of the First World War, Mitchell argued that the introduction of the bomber plane rendered the battleship obsolete. He was provided the opportunity to prove that theory when the U.S. Navy reluctantly offered captured German ships for the airpower trials staged during the summer of 1921. During that week, Mitchell’s Martin MB-2 and Handley Page bombers sank a German sub, destroyer, light cruiser, and the legendarily “unsinkable” battleship Ostfriesland roughly sixty miles off the Virginia Capes. Due to the trial’s arrangements, the Ostfriesland was neither able to maneuver nor defend itself from the aerial attacks. But that hardly mattered as observers’ main takeaway at the time was that Mitchell and his crews had fulfilled his prediction that he could sink a battleship. It did persuade Naval leaders of airpower’s potential and encouraged the branch to invest in aircraft carriers. As for Mitchell, even though the tests had demonstrated the Army Air Service’s influence, he was upset that the Joint Army Navy Board refused to accept his recommendation for an independent air force. The General remained steadfast in his determination of a separate command for the Air Service, so much so that a few years later his outspokenness would get him demoted and eventually court-martialed by the War Department. In short, the event was a bittersweet one for Billy Mitchell, who would die eleven years before the Air Force ultimately gained its independence.
Details Download

June 1941: US War Dept announced approval of $33 million Fuse and Detonator plant near Jacksonville, Arkansas

In June, 76 years ago, the War Department approved construction of a $33 million fuse and detonator plant near Jacksonville. This was six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and thus before U.S. entry into the war. The plant was named the Arkansas Ordnance Plant (AOP) and it was fully operational just one year after the announced construction. The plant left both a literal and figurative mark on the Jacksonville community, as well as the Little Rock region as a whole. It boosted Jacksonville’s population at the time from 400 to 42,000. It also provided much-needed income to the largely rural, agricultural-based, and economically-disadvantaged region still suffering from the Great Depression. It brought women to the public workforce – called WOWs, short for Women Ordnance Workers – who made up roughly seventy-five percent of the facility’s labor force. And it gave African American employees a sense of economic freedom and equality despite being near the bottom of the state’s economic and social totem pole due to Jim Crow segregation. It was also bustling; by war’s end, employees had produced over a billion detonators and nearly two hundred million fuses, accounting for over eighty-eight percent of all the detonators and fuses used by the Allies during World War II. The plant began dismissing employees when war wound down in late-1945, and within six months of V-J Day it closed completely. In short, however, the economic successes brought by the Arkansas Ordnance Plant eventually paved the way for Little Rock AFB.
Details Download

69th anniversary of Berlin Airlift

June 26, 2017, marked the 69 years since the launch of the Berlin Airlift, also known as Operation Vittles here in the States. Relations between the US and the Soviet Union soured shortly after the war, and on June 24, 1948, Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to the Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. This was one of the earliest and defining moments of the Cold War. Yet rather than provoke another conflict, the Truman administration resolved to resupply the Western-section of Berlin by air. Operation Vittles launched two days after the Soviet blockade, with C-47s and C-54s forming the backbone of the airlift. The most critical item Berliners depended upon was fuel, with coal making up roughly 65 percent of the total tonnage flown into the western half of the city. The beginning of the airlift proved difficult, but over time it became increasingly efficient with aircraft eventually departing every three minutes for Berlin. As the last commander of the Berlin Airlift Major General William H. Tunner later reflected, “It was this beat, this precise rhythmical cadence, which determines the success of an airlift.” Once the Western Allies had demonstrated that they could sustain the intensity of the operation, Moscow eventually relented and lifted the blockade in May 1949, though the airlift would continue through the summer and into the fall. The Berlin Airlift lasted fifteen months and delivered nearly 2.3 million tons of supplies into Berlin. American aircrews made more than 189,000 flights, totaling nearly 600,000 flying hours and exceeding 92 million miles.
Details Download

June 5-6, 1944: 61st Troop Carrier Squadron participated in Operation NEPTUNE

Before the Allied ground forces reached the beaches on the morning of Operation OVERLORD of the Normandy invasion, our own 61st Troop Carrier Squadron participated in Operation NEPTUNE. NEPTUNE was the airborne assault phase of OVERLORD, and shortly after midnight on June 6 it dropped paratroopers of the U.S. Army’s 82d Airborne Division roughly five miles from the coast in order to prevent German troops from attacking Allied forces crossing the English Channel and landing at Utah Beach. Time on the Drop Zone was shortly after 2 a.m. Nazi Germany would ultimately surrender eleven months after the Normandy landings. Included is a 1989 painting showing the 61 Troop Carrier Squadron and its lead plane, the “Turf and Sport Special,” in action over Normandy created by aviation artist Gil Cohen.
Details Download

June 1, 1953: Activation of 19th Periodic Maintenance Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Japan

Happy birthday to the 19th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron! On June 1, 1953, the 19th Periodic Maintenance Squadron activated at Kadena Air Base, Japan. It did so in an effort to improve the aircraft-in-commission rates of the 19th Bombardment Wing’s B-29s. After three years of constant flying in the Korean War, the planes of the 19 BW desperately needed reliable maintenance to continue its operations. Beforehand, the 19 BW had depended upon borrowed maintenance and logistics support from other units, and as a result the aircraft-in-commission rate had deteriorated. Personnel assigned to the newly activated Periodic Maintenance Squadron were dedicated to the routine inspections of the Wing’s B-29s. Almost immediately after activation, the aircraft-in-commission rates improved significantly. In 1956, the unit was redesignated the 19th Organizational Maintenance Squadron, and in 2002, again redesignated as the 19th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. The squadron’s original emblem was the SAC hand providing assistance to the Wing’s three flying squadrons, and included are pictures of maintainers on B-29s assigned to the 19th Bombardment Wing.
Details Download

May 29, 1941 - Air Corps Ferrying Command Organized

May 29, 1941, marks a significant milestone in the history of military airlift. Previously, crews from the 19th BG ferried B-17s to Hawaii to build up its defenses around Oahu in the summer leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. This week, 76 years ago, the Air Corps Ferrying Command organized to transport American-produced airplanes – primarily bombers – to the United Kingdom via Canada as part of the nation’s Lend-Lease program.   Reminder: This occurred before the U.S. entry into the war. This was critical for the Brits considering that after the fall of France in 1940, they were the only European country that remained to wage battle against the German armies, and aerial bombardment of German fortifications was really their only military option.   When it became too demanding for British military and civilian pilots to ferry the planes over themselves, General Hap Arnold suggested using Army Air Corps pilots instead, and the Ferrying Command was thus born. As the number of airplanes reaching England increased, the British informally referred to the route as the “Arnold Line.” Once the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into the war, the Ferrying Command expanded its system across the globe.   The Ferrying Command existed for all of 13 months before being reorganized as the Air Transport Command, but in that limited timeframe its pilots had ferried over 14,000 aircraft while also transporting nearly 2,000 tons of cargo, mail, and personnel. The Ferrying Command was but a prelude to the remarkable development of airlift during the Second World War, a conflict that eventually demonstrated the value of military airlift as a whole. The map provided demonstrates the transportation routes across the Atlantic before Pearl Harbor’s attack, along with the Ferrying Command’s patch.
Details Download

May 13, 1941: 19th BG ferries 21 B-17s to Hickham Field

76 years ago, on May 13, 1941, the 19th BG made aviation history when it ferried 21 brand new 4-engine B-17s from Hamilton Field in California to Hickam Field in Hawaii, a feat that has been bestowed to the current 19 AW. The planes were ordered there in order to strengthen the defense of Hawaii – this was seven months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The middle image demonstrates how they planned to employ the planes around Oahu, which is the center of that 360 degree radius. The flight took only 13 hours and was uneventful, but it was noteworthy because it was the first mass flight of heavy bombers across the 2,400-mile stretch between the U.S.’s West Coast and Hawaii. Upon arrival, the planes were assigned to the Hawaiian Air Force. Five pilots and ten mechanics from the 19th remained to provide instruction to the Hawaiian Air Force, while the rest returned to San Francisco by boat before reuniting with the rest of the unit in Albuquerque. Just a few months later, the 19th BG would begin preparing for its movement to the Philippines to defend key strategic points in East Asia against purported Japanese aggression. IMAGES: On the right is an image of the B-17s at Hamilton Field before their flight to Hawaii.
Details Download

May 4-8, 1942: Battle of Coral Sea

The week of May 4th through the 8th marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Coral Sea. Aircrews from our 19th BG participated in the battle, having been resupplied with two additional squadrons since the group’s devastating losses in the Philippines on December 7, 1941. During the battle, 19 BG crews raided Japanese transportation and communication targets, as well as ground forces attempting to invade Papua New Guinea. The map shows the Allies in red defending against the Japanese attack forces in blue. There’s a bit of Australia on the lower left corner of the map. While not a decisive military victory for either side, as both sides each lost carriers (with the middle image an example of a Japanese carrier taking hit), the outcome ultimately prevented the Japanese military from invading Australia and cutting off its communication with the Allies. The Aussies still commemorate this event. In many ways, this was a symbolic victory – similar to the Doolittle Raid a couple weeks earlier – in that it was the first true check to the abundant advances Japanese forces had made up to that point in the war, stretching back to the bombing of Pearl Harbor five months prior. In fact, Japanese military leaders had successfully invaded two of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands before these setbacks (as you can see in the NYT headline then), only to eventually lose them as well. Some historians consider the results from the Battle of Coral Sea to be the beginning of a turning point in the Pacific, particularly in the following months as U.S. forces claimed military victories in the Battles of Midway and Guadalcanal.
Details Download

April 29, 1975: Last C-130 out of Vietnam

On April 29, 1975, tail number 56-0518 flew the last mission out of Vietnam before the fall of Saigon. Prior to that date, the aircraft was delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force in 1972 as part of the Nixon administration’s effort to bolster that country’s defense against the invading communist forces from the North. On the 29th, the day before Saigon fell, North Vietnamese forces destroyed virtually all aircraft – more than 100 planes – on the flightline at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. 0-5-1-8 was the only C-130 to avoid ruin. In a panicked state, hundreds of refugees rushed to get aboard this last flyable C-130, the aircraft representing their final ticket to freedom. In all, 452 people were on board, including 32 in the cockpit alone. The aircraft was overloaded by at least 10,000 pounds and required every foot of runway to become airborne, including hitting the brakes while taxiing in order to close the rear ramp doors. The plane ultimately landed in Thailand, and was later returned to the U.S. Air Force. Due to its original assignment with the 62d Troop Carrier Squadron and the 314th Troop Carrier Wing, the aircraft was retired to Little Rock AFB and has been on display at the main gate since 1989.
Details Download

Operation New Life: May 1975

As South Vietnam fell to Communist forces in April 1975, tens of thousands of refugees sought to escape the country by sea or by air, including the 450-plus individuals who boarded that last C-130. During the month of May, the 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron, (which was formerly assigned to both the 314th TAW and then the 19th AW when it was an Airlift Squadron) assisted in this endeavor by transporting just shy of 7,500 passengers and nearly 600 tons of cargo from the Philippines to Guam.   Meanwhile, back at LRAFB, the first of nine commercial airplanes carrying Vietnamese refugees landed at “the Rock” on May 9, 1975. Airmen provided food, medical care, and general information to the voyagers.   From there, C-130s from the 32nd, 61st, and 62nd Tactical Airlift Squadrons supported Operation NEW LIFE by transporting over 9,000 refugees and more than 1,000 tons of cargo to Ft. Smith Airport, close to the Ft. Chaffee Resettlement Center. Overall, Operation NEW LIFE relocated more than 130,000 Indochinese refugees to their new lives in the U.S.
Details Download

18 April 1942: Doolittle Tokyo Raid

April 18, 2017, was the 75th anniversary of the Doolittle Tokyo Raid. Four months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, with additional Japanese military victories across the Pacific since, American morale in the spring of 1942 was abysmally low. It was actually a U.S. Navy submariner who suggested attacking the heart of the Japanese mainland, using U.S. Army Air Force medium bombers flown from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, a true joint-operation. The plan called for sixteen B-25s (under the command of Lt Col James H. Doolittle) to take off some 450 miles from Japan, bomb selected targets on the mainland such as oil storage facilities, factory areas, and military installations, then continue flying west toward the East China Sea. Airplane crews accomplished the first objective, but none of the Raiders had enough fuel to reach their designated airfields. They either ditched at sea, bailed out, crash-landed in China, or, in the case of one crew, diverted to the Soviet Union. Two of those who bailed out drowned at sea. Eight other flyers were captured by Japanese forces. Three were ultimately executed while a fourth died of poor health while in captivity. The four survivors were liberated in August 1945. Damage from the raid itself was actually minimal, but strategically it stunned Japanese military leaders into recalling combat forces from the front lines to defend mainland Japan. Likewise, because of the mission’s audacity, it raised the spirits of those back home in the U.S. who were desperate for any positive news.
Details Download

8 April 1942: First “Hump Airlift” Military Flight

75 years ago April 8, 2017, the most extensive airlift ever undertaken by the United States commenced, doing so in the Second World War’s China-Burma-India Theatre, or the CBI. For those unaware, the “Hump Airlift” was the allied effort to sustain Chinese armies in their resistance against Japanese forces. However, the only entryway defenseless from the Japanese military was over the world’s highest mountain system, the Himalayas, what separates China and India on this map. Aircrews at the time referred to this as “the Hump” Never had a community been supplied such a large proportion of its needs by air; but performing this operation over such diverse and extreme conditions was the true test for these members of the Army Air Force. Not only did crews have snow-packed mountains keeping them on alert; but, should they be forced to evacuate, awaiting them on the ground were Burmese jungles swarming with mosquitoes, torrential rains, and head-hunters, to give only a few examples. The campaign itself started slowly, delivering a little over 300 tons the first two months. When it was over, aircrews involved in the airlift made over 167,000 trips to China and delivered almost 740,000 tons of war material, including armies from India and Burma to the battlefronts of China. The last commander of the India-China Division, General William H. Tunner, was responsible for the sharp increase in tonnage rates and the significant downturn in accidents during the war’s final year. Performed in arguably the most harrowing theater of the war, the Hump Airlift proved to be a pivotal moment in the history of military airlift. Tunner realized its potential: “After the Hump, those of us who had developed an expertise in air transportation knew that we could fly anything anywhere anytime.”
Details Download

March 13, 2007 -- AMC's first C-130J delivered to LRAFB

Ten years ago on March 13, 2007, Air Mobility Command’s first C-130J arrived at Little Rock AFB. It was assigned to the 463d Airlift Group (middle shield). The following month, the 463d AG gained the 41st Airlift Squadron after its transfer from Pope AFB. The 41st AS would be the first active-duty combat C-130J squadron in the Air Force, and this J-model would be the first of sixteen ultimately assigned to the squadron. However, this was NOT the first J-model on base. That distinction belongs to the 48th Airlift Squadron of the 314th Airlift Wing, which received its first C-130J three years prior. IMAGES: The image you see here is of Tail Number 4631 arriving at “The Rock,” flown by AMC’s commander at the time, General Duncan McNabb.
Details Download

March 6, 1942 -- "The Swoose"

On March 6, 1942, the new and not-so-improved tail number 3-0-9-7, aka “The Swoose,” flew its first recorded flight. This is arguably the most recognized aircraft in our collective 19th history. It’s also the oldest surviving B-17, pre-dating the U.S.’s entry into the Second World War. Originally known as “Ole Betsy,” this B-17 was assigned to the 14th Bombardment Squadron, one of the 19th’s (BG) two squadrons that had escaped the Japanese surprise attack on Clark Field on December 7, 1941. 3-0-9-7 participated in several bombing missions following that raid. But it was damaged following an air battle in January and had suffered overall deterioration due to extensive time in the air with little recovery after flying missions. Repairs began in late-January 1942 while the remnants of the 19th Bombardment Group were in Australia. At the time, maintenance crews rarely possessed any new spare parts. Therefore, all materials used to repair the aircraft were obtained from other battle-damaged and war-weary B-17s. It received a new tail structure, rudder, and elevators from one aircraft, and wings, wheels, and brakes from three others. Maintenance personnel also converted the aircraft into an armed transport. Because of its new configuration, the hybrid airplane was playfully rechristened “The Swoose,” the idea coming from a popular – yet insensitive – 1941 song “Alexander the Swoose.” The tune was about a goose who looked different, sung from the perspective of Alexander’s tormenters: “Here comes little Alexander, What a funny looking gander. He’s half swan and he’s half goose, ha ha ha, he’s just a swoose.” The aircraft avoided the scrap heap because it was assigned as a command plane, and was the only B-17 that served from the beginning of the war to the end.
Details Download