Screenshot Helicopter Crashed Near FOB Jackson BF-2 Is the Third F-35 to Achieve Su- in Afghanistan’S Restive Helmand Prov- Personic Flight
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Air Force World By Marc V. Schanz, Senior Editor Airmen Die in War Zone Crash 1.6, which is the fighter’s top speed Four airmen were killed and three with a full internal weapons load of wounded when their HH-60 Pave Hawk 3,000 pounds. screenshot helicopter crashed near FOB Jackson BF-2 is the third F-35 to achieve su- in Afghanistan’s restive Helmand prov- personic flight. Two F-35A conventional ince June 9.The crash occurred while Air Force variants have also broken the helicopter was performing casualty the sound barrier. evacuation missions for Operation Enduring Freedom. One of the injured F-35C Makes First Flight USAF photo by SSgt. DeNoris Mickle airmen died three weeks later from CF-1, the first Navy F-35C test aircraft, the injuries he sustained in the crash. performed its inaugural flight June 6 from Killed were 1st Lt. Joel C. Gentz, 25, NAS JRB Fort Worth, Tex., Lockheed of Grass Lake, Mich., assigned to the Martin announced June 7. The 57-minute 58th Rescue Squadron, Nellis AFB, flight was performed by Lockheed test Nev.; TSgt. Michael P. Flores, 31, of San pilot Jeff Knowles, a retired naval aviator. Antonio, assigned to the 48th Rescue The F-35C is a carrier-optimized Squadron, Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.; variant of the Lightning II, and features SSgt. David C. Smith, 26, of Eight Mile, a larger wing and control surfaces and Ala., assigned to the 66th Rescue structural strength greater than the Squadron, Nellis; and SrA. Benjamin Air Force F-35A and Marine Corps D. White, 24, of Erwin, Tenn., assigned F-35B variants. AF-1, the first weight- to the 48th Rescue Squadron, Davis- optimized USAF F-35A, first flew in Monthan. The wounded airmen were November 2009. BF-1—the first short assigned to the 66th RQS from Nellis. takeoff and landing F-35B aircraft—first The fifth airman to perish, Capt. David flew in June 2008. A. Wisniewski, 31, of Moville, Iowa, died July 2 after being evacuated to Air Guardsman Commands OTS the National Naval Medical Center, For the first time, a member of the Bethesda, Md. Air National Guard now commands Initial reports indicated the helicopter the Air Force’s Officer Training School was brought down by hostile fire, but a at Maxwell AFB, Ala. The milestone subsequent Air Force statement said occurred June 8 when Col. Timothy the crash’s cause is under investigation. O’Brien took over the school, after hav- The airmen and aircraft involved ing been the deputy commander since were assigned to the 563rd Rescue September 2009. Group, a geographically separated unit Just last year, the Air Guard moved of the 23rd Wing at Moody AFB, Ga. its officer training from McGhee-Tyson ANGB, Tenn., to Maxwell to consolidate F-35 STOVL Goes Supersonic with the active duty and Air Force Lockheed Martin announced June Reserve. “Colonel O’Brien is a natural 14 that its F-35B short takeoff/vertical leader who inspires both the students landing variant of the Lightning II strike and the faculty,” said Brig. Gen. Teresa fighter reached supersonic speed for A. H. Djuric, commander of the Jeanne the first time during a June 10 test flight M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions at NAS Patuxent River, Md. and Citizen Development, the organiza- The test aircraft BF-2 performed the tion that oversees OTS. flight, marking the first time in military Djuric said in June that OTS is con- aviation history that a supersonic radar- tinuing to evolve with the changes, and evading stealth fighter is capable of the school is hoping for a more natural short takeoff/vertical landing, Lockheed integration of the Air Guard, active duty, Martin officials announced. It was and Reservists in the future. BF-2’s 30th flight. Marine Corps pilot Lt. Col. Matt Kelly flew the aircraft to Malmstrom Hosts Nuke Exercise 30,000 feet and accelerated to Mach Air Force Global Strike Command 1.07 in the offshore test. Future test- held its first-ever response task force ing will expand the flight envelope of exercise at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., from the aircraft out to a top speed of Mach June 1 to 4, where first responders, 10 AIR FORCE Magazine / August 2010 public affairs representatives, and other a commercial gas tanker and a vehicle McGuire CRG Furls Colors officials collaborate on a response to a carrying hazardous cargo near the base, The 816th Contingency Response simulated nuclear weapons incident at and provided an opportunity for experts Group at JB McGuire, N.J., inactivated one of USAF’s nuclear facilities. from the command, wing, and other on June 11, as part of a restructuring Malmstrom is home to the 341st organizations to go over checklists and that consolidated the 621st Contingency Missile Wing and its Minuteman III procedures in response to an accident. Response Wing’s capabilities. intercontinental ballistic missiles. In According to Brig. Gen. Everett H. The 816th was the first operational the past, multiple commands were Thomas, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons group established in the wing. First acti- responsible for providing and training Center commander and RTF boss, the vated in March 2005, it was responsible their own RTFs, which have now been 341st Missile Wing’s performance was for tasks such as opening expeditionary consolidated under AFGSC. The sce- superb, from initial response to manage- air bases and responding to events nario involved the simulated collision of ment of the entire scenario. such as natural disasters where urgent Azure waters of the Atlantic are imprinted with the shadow of a huge C-17 airlifter from the 14th Airlift Squadron, JB Charleston, S.C. As part of Independence Day celebrations, USAF airmen flew the C-17 at low level—from 500 to 1,000 feet—along the South Carolina coast 07.04.2010 from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head Island. Thousands of South Carolinians gathered on the beaches to salute the airmen as they passed. This first “Salute from the Shore” was held to honor US military men and women. AIR FORCE Magazine / August 2010 11 Air Force World workers—and subsequent destruction of Remains of Vietnam War MIA Airmen Identified the offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. AETC officials told Air Force Maga- The remains of four airmen missing in action since the Vietnam War were zine that some tar and oil residue were identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors, discovered in the bay where the training according to a June 14 Department of Defense report. occurs under direction of the Air Force The missing airmen are Capt. Peter H. Chapman II of Centerburg, Ohio; detachment at NAS Pensacola. The TSgt. Allen J. Avery of Auburn, Mass.; TSgt. Roy D. Prater of Tiffin, Ohio; discovery prompted local government and Sgt. James H. Alley of Plantation, Fla. health and safety officials to declare All four airmen were among the six aboard an HH-53C helicopter on a it inappropriate to conduct training in combat search and rescue mission over Quang Tri province, South Vietnam, the area. on April 6, 1972. The helicopter was struck by enemy fire and crashed. Student pilots are being sent in the Field investigations by Vietnam and the US at the site in the late 1980s interim to Fairchild AFB, Wash., to re- and early 1990s led to an excavation where remains of the crew were found. ceive some of the instruction. AETC said Three of the six crew members were identified in 1997, with recent technical 55 new USAF students normally come advances helping the Pentagon to identify additional remains. through Pensacola each week for train- Prater was buried in Columbia City, Ind., on June 19, while other burials ing, which takes place 48 weeks a year. were scheduled individually by the families of the airmen. On June 10, DOD’s Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office announced Whiteman, Ellsworth Win RPA Mission the identification and accounting-for of nine US airmen missing in action The Air Force announced June 21 that since the Vietnam War. Whiteman AFB, Mo., and Ellsworth AFB, Air Force Col. William H. Mason of Camden, Ark.; Lt. Col. Jerry L. Cham- S.D., will host ground control stations bers of Muskogee, Okla.; Maj. William T. McPhail of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Maj. for MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper Thomas B. Mitchell of Littleton, Colo.; CMSgt. John Q. Adam of Bethel, Kan.; remotely piloted aircraft. Each base will CMSgt. Calvin C. Glover of Steubenville, Ohio; CMSgt. Thomas E. Knebel add around 280 personnel, civilians and of Midway, Ark.; CMSgt. Melvin D. Rash of Yorktown, Va.; and MSgt. Gary military, for the new mission. Pate of Brooks, Ga., were buried as a group June 10 in Arlington National Initial operational capability with the Cemetery. The individually identified remains of each airman were previously new Predator squadron at Whiteman is returned to the families for burial. planned for February 2011, while the On May 22, 1968, the men were aboard a C-130A on an evening flare Reaper squadron plans to reach IOC mission over Salavan province, Laos. Fifteen minutes after the aircraft made at Ellsworth by May 2012. a radio call, the crew of another US aircraft observed a large ground fire These bases are the right locations near the last known location of Mason’s C-130. Due to anti-aircraft fire, a for the next set of Predator and Reaper search and rescue attempt was not initiated. ground control stations, said Kathleen Over the course of 40 years, investigators conducted a series of investiga- I.