End of an era for Charleston's C-141s coming

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (USTCNS) --- The end of an era arrives July 15 when a ceremony will be held on the flight line to commemorate the farewell of the C-141 presence and to close the 16th Airlift Squadron, the sole remaining C-141 flying squadron here.

At its heyday, Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., had as many as 58 C-141s parked on its ramp and the aircraft and its crews had earned the reputation as the "workhorse of Air Mobility Command."

The C-141 Starlifter first flew in December 1963 and entered Air Force service in 1965. Aircraft number 63-0624 was the first C-141 to arrive at Charleston Air Force Base on Aug. 14, 1965.

The durable jets are being retired because many have reached the limits of their serviceable life of 45,000 flight hours and will eventually be flown to Davis Monthan AFB, Ariz., for storage. Jets with less hours will be sent to other C-141 bases such as McChord AFB, Wash., and Altus AFB, Okla., that will continue to fly the venerable airlifter.

According to Air Mobility Command plans and programs officials, the C-141s will retire from the active duty inventory before 2004 and from the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard before 2006.

All former C-141 aircrew and maintainers or anyone associated with the C-141s are invited to the squadron's closing ceremonies.

"We are planning on a wide variety of events to include a social gala on Friday, July 14, as well as a formal ceremony to be held on Saturday, July 15," said 1st Lt. Robby Hanovich, C-141 pilot and the project officer for the closing ceremony.

He added that anyone interested in attending either of these events should contact him at (843) 963-2129 or by email at robert.hanovich@charleston.af.mil by Friday, June 30. They may also call toll-free at 1-888-355-6537.

Events planned July 14 include a C-141 farewell golf tournament, the social event at the Charleston Club, and a special flag retreat ceremony with a flyover of C-141s. On July 15, C-141 and C-17 aircraft will be on static display.

Although the 16th Airlift Squadron won't technically close until September, the ceremony was moved to July because funding for the C-141 maintenance runs out on June 30th, said Lt. Col. "J.J." Wendling, commander of the 16th Airlift Squadron.

"By holding the ceremony in July, we expect to have at least 75 members still in the squadron. Sadly, this is a far cry from the 260 personnel who once walked the halls of building 54 and packed the Yonkie Auditorium just a few years ago; however, if we held the ceremony in September as originally scheduled, only about 15 members from the squadron would be here to participate."

"We have about 80 people working three shifts 24 hours a day to keep these planes flying until June 30," said Maj. Rick J. Cornelio, commander of the 437th Aircraft Generation Squadron, which maintains C-17s and C-141s. "The aircraft comes off the books at the end of June, and we'll have no more primary aircraft assigned, which will allow us to draw down and take care of our people without being tasked for training or operational missions."

Between June and October, about 50 members of the 437th AGS will either move to other bases, retire or separate from the Air Force. The remaining 30 members, mostly staff sergeants through master sergeants, will transition to the C-17 and spend six months to a year in upgrade training.

The 16th AS will fly its last training and "real world" operational missions before June 30, just before the money runs out. However, the base will still have about six C-141s left on the ramp, which will be gradually flown off to other bases or retired to Davis Monthan AFB. The last C-141 flight from the base is scheduled to depart on or about Sept. 7, when it will be flown to Altus AFB, Okla.

Charleston-based C-141s have been involved in virtually every major military contingency to include Desert Shield/Storm, where C-141s moved the majority of the cargo for our forces and was the first airlifter on the ground. Charleston C-141s saw action during the Vietnam War, the Israeli and Egyptian conflict in 1967 and 1973, the U.S. intervention in Grenada and Panama, and the crisis in Kosovo, to name a few.

"From delivering critically needed humanitarian supplies into every corner of the globe to supporting the transportation requirements of the president, to numerous classified special operations missions we can never discuss performed under the cover of absolute darkness into some of the most austere areas imaginable, the 16th Airlift Squadron has flawlessly executed every mission it's been tasked to accomplish," said Wendling.

At one time, the 16th AS provided the nation's only long-range, rapid-response, special operations low-level capability. The squadron provided the backbone of the nation's elite special operations forces and used the "Bad to the Bone" motto on their unit patches. Ever vigilant in sitting continuous alert 24 hours, 7 days a week, the 16th routinely responded to short-notice national command authority taskings.

The squadron used uniquely qualified aircrews trained in the use of enhanced night vision equipment and specially modified aircraft.

These crews rapidly deployed and inserted special operations ground forces into blacked-out, austere airfields/drop zones and extracted those ground forces upon mission completion. SOLL missions are AMC's most demanding, and the 16th was the only unit qualified to fly these missions.

The 16th flawlessly performed this complex mission for over 17 years while maintaining the best safety record in the Air Force, surpassing 919,000 mishap-free flying hours. This unique mission was formally transferred to McGuire AFB in April 1999.

The 16th AS lineage goes back to Dec. 11, 1940, when it was activated. The squadron has flown the C-47 from 1941 to 1945, C-119 from 1950 to 1951, YC-122 from 1951 to 1955, H-19 in 1952, and C-130 from 1969 to 1993. The squadron's lineage moved from Little Rock AFB, Ark., to Charleston AFB Oct. 1, 1993, when it took on the C-141 as its primary aircraft.

Wendling credits the 16th AS' "rich and glorious history" to the outstanding dedicated professionals who make the mission happen each and every day.

Only about 15 percent of the squadron will be making the transition to the C-17A, others will be either separating, retiring or moving onto other weapon systems ranging from C-130s at Yokota Air Base, Japan, to NATO Airborne Warning and Control Systems in Geilenkirchen, Germany, and everything in between.

"It's going to be a sad day when we furl our squadron flag, not because we're closing a squadron, but because we're disbanding a family. The 16th AS closure may be the end of a chapter, but it also marks the beginning of another. We know we'll run into each other again because once you've been a member of the best airlift squadron in the Air Force, you'll be 'Bad to the Bone' forever!" said Wendling.

The maintenance community, in particular the NCOs in the 315th and 437th, were the backbone to the many successes attained by this great aircraft.

"Our C-141 operations had been honed to peak efficiency during the Desert Storm era, as attested by our 99 percent launch reliability rate for 240 consecutive missions," said Chief Master Sgt. Jerry Merritt from the 315th Aircraft Generation Squadron, the reserve maintenance squadron that repairs the C-141s. "Many of our avionics hot jobs were actually worked during taxi to the end of the runway. When we were complete, the crew would let us out and take off."

Senior Master Sgt. Frank Waddell and an air reserve technician superintendent for the 315th AGS remembers the many evacuations when hurricanes threatened the coast and when the C-141 was called upon for action during the crisis in Panama.

"I had seen all the problems stirring in Panama on CNN. That night I was called to check out a problem on an aircraft parked on the George row of the flight line. I knew that the radios had been real quiet for some reason and the parking ramp was full, but I still did not suspect anything was going on or about to happen out of the ordinary.

As I completed the system check out of aircraft, I started out the front crew door when I noticed an armored personnel carrier on board. It had something written on it in chalk, so I walked back in the cargo compartment to read what it said. Across the front end of the vehicle was written 'Feliz Navidad HO HO HO Noriega.'"

It was then that he realized the significance of their actions.

"I picked up some guys from the shop, and we rode back out just as aircrews began to arrive. We watched 31 aircraft start up, taxi out with wings drooping from the max fuel load, and take off without a hitch. It still amazes me what was done that night to pull off the invasion of Panama."

Although the squadron will be inactivated, the squadron is expected to spring anew in the future and become the fourth C-17 flying squadron when Boeing resumes C-17 deliveries to Charleston in October 2003. (FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).