16th AS relies on winning combination

Released: Feb 12, 1997

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFNS) -- Safety, spirit and service describe the illustrious past of the 76th Military Airlift Squadron, and live on today in the hearts of the men and women of the 16 th Airlift Squadron.

Together, these two squadrons accomplished an outstanding Air Force-wide record of 900,000 hours of mishap-free flying. Forty-one years ago, the 76th Air Transport Squadron's history at Charleston Air Force Base began with its first local training mission flown on Valentine's Day 1956.

The squadron had moved from Kelly AFB, Texas, after being reactivated in 1952. The move to Charleston began the squadron's transition into the first of three Lockheed aircraft, the C-121C Super Constellation. With the help of this aircraft, the squadron made many historic firsts, including the first squadron to airlift refugees of the Hungarian revolution.

The 76th ATS began flying the C-130E Hercules in 1963, and in three years averaged more than 2,000 flying hours a month. In 1966, the 76th ATS moved into its final aircraft, the C-141 Starlifter.

Since the C-141 transition, the squadron had been involved in nearly every major crisis and exercise. Today, the 16th Airlift Squadron (redesignated the 16th after the Air Force realigned in 1993) carries on the 76th mission of long-range strategic airlift and tactical airdrop and is distinguished as the only C-141 squadron in the Air Force to perform Special Operations Low Level, known as SOLL II.

In a ceremony Jan. 31 honoring the 900,000-hour safety milestone, Lt. Col. Michael Jackson, 16th AS commander, received a plaque from Lt. Col. Ed Schauberger, 437th AW chief of wing safety. Flying hours are not usually transferred from one unit to another, Jackson explained in an interview prior to the ceremony, but because the people didn't change, just the unit designation, Air Mobility Command Safety decided to award the 16th AS with the 76th's previous hours.

"It's kind of like accumulating frequent flyer miles for the family, but the family earns the bonus," Jackson said. "The people haven't changed at all, but the name has, and it's something that you attach a lot of personalization to."

"We just happen to be the stewards right now with the 16th," said Jackson. "I venture to say over the years we have had a 200-person squadron and you change people about every three or four years. Over the course of 30 years worth of flying, I have to assume that you probably change the squadron 10 times, so you're talking about 2,500 to 3,000 people who have worked in building this kind of safety milestone."

Jackson calculated that this milestone is equivalent to five trips to the moon and back. And, if one aircraft and one crew were to fly 365 days a year, seven days a week, it would have taken approximately 102 years. That means the squadron would have began flying in 1895, eight years before the Wright Brothers made their first flight.

Although the 16th AS's portion of the 900,000 hours began at Charleston, their history dates back to its inception in 1940, flying C-47s at McClellan Field, Calif. The 16th's first challenge was World War II. While stationed at Comiso, Sicily, the squadron assisted in the re-supply of Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill and his men, known as "Merrill's Marauders". The squadron remained overseas after the war and was deactivated at Wallerfield, Trinidad, in 1945.

It was reactivated in 1947 at Langley Field, Va., and flew the C-119, YC-122, and was the parent organization to a flight of H-5 and H-19 helicopters at Stewart AFB, Tenn., until 1954.

Once again the squadron was deactivated in 1955 until 1969. The squadron began flying C-130s in 1970.

The maintainers live by safety, spirit and service too. The 437th Aircraft Generation Squadron spends many maintenance hours per flying hour to keep the C-141 and the 16th AS safe in the air.

As of Dec. 31, the 16th AS had logged 900,424.8 hours. With the fliers and maintainers working together, the unit may soon set its sights on the 1-million-hour mark for accident-free flying. (Courtesy of Air Mobility Command News Service and 437th AW/PA.)