CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (USTCNS) --- Twelve C-17s left the runway here just after daybreak May 14 and flew into history as the largest-ever C-17 formation.
"At Charleston we have a commitment to do what is called Strategic Brigade Airdrop," said Lt. Col. William "Goose" Changose, 14th Airlift Squadron commander. "It's what you see in World War II movies, and what we did in Grenada and Panama also."
Strategic Brigade Airdrop capability allows the United States to go anywhere in the world and airdrop paratroopers on short notice, Changose said.
"It's a powerful capability, and the whole rest of the world knows that we have it," he said. "I guess that's what helps keep a lot of the bad guys in the world a little more well behaved than they normally might be, because they know that if called upon to do so, in a short period of time we can project power, in the form of paratroopers landing exactly where we want them to."
Changose said that as operators, practicing large formation procedures is important. On Tuesday there were 12 planes flying in an instrument-condition formation eight miles long.
"It was really good training for our guys, and really good training for LG," Changose said.
Prior to May 14, the largest C-17 formation was an 11-ship. Changose said the large formations are due in part to Col. Robert Allardice, former 437th Operations Group commander.
"When he (Allardice) came in he said, 'I want to do a nine-ship or better every quarter,'" Changose said. "We were on that path, and we were doing that, until Sept. 11. Since Sept. 11, the biggest we've been able to get airborne has been six."
Changose said Col. Tommy Hixon, 437th Logistics Group commander, and Allardice made a deal May 7, just one week before the 12-ship got off the ground, to fly all the jets flyable on base.
Getting the aircraft off the ground was no simple task, according to Changose.
"To launch a 12-ship, is a lot of work," Changose said. "Quite honestly, the hardest work was done by the maintainers."
Maj. Gerald Frederick, 437th Aircraft Generation Squadron commander, agreed that launching and recovering 12 aircraft at once is nothing short of amazing.
"I've been doing this for 15 years," Frederick said. "Launching a 12-ship ... is a huge undertaking. The thing that amazes me the most about this is folks like (Tech.) Sgt. (George) Franks (315th Aircraft Generation Squadron) and company made it look easy."
Frederick said the maintainers on the flightline started work on jets that weren't flying during the day shift May 13, and bedded down the aircraft that were flying the evening before the launch and turned them by the time the aircrews for the formation showed up at 4 a.m.
"Elsewhere I've been, we'd stand down a day ahead of time and the day after to get the airplanes ready and to bed them down when they came back," said Frederick. "We didn't do that here. We flew training sorties the day before, and we flew training sorties the evening after. It came off without a hitch, and I've never seen that before."
Franks, an activated reservist, said he's been in the Reserve for 14 years, and the formation May 14 was the first 12-ship he's ever seen.
"That goes to show you what Team Charleston is all about," Franks said. "We're all about production and getting the airplanes off the ground."
Franks said even though "Team Charleston" sometimes sounds like just another catchphrase, the way the activated reservists from the 315 AGS and active-duty members of the 437 AGS work together, the phrase has real meaning.
According to Franks, the maintainers weren't the only ones working hard to turn the aircraft. He said the 437th Supply Squadron Fuels Flight also had a big hand in making the whole thing work.
"You have to give credit to the POL guys because they were there waiting with fuel when the airplanes landed, so we could turn the jets," Franks said. "We even had to turn a few jets when the 12-ship landed, so they deserve a credit also."
(FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
