NY Air National Guard's 174th FW Last Manned Flight

When the unit deployed on June 10th for their last combat mission the MAZDA flights were heard taking to the skies on their last manned mission. When the nearly 200 members of New York Air National Guard's storied 174th Fighter Wing landed at Hancock Field last Tuesday from a two month deployment to Iraq, they ended over 60 years of manned flight.

The "Boys from Syracuse" will relinquish their F-16 C/D Fighting Falcons and take on a new mission of piloting the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper remote controlled drone.

179th Airlift Wing Gets A New Mission

The Ohio Air National Guard's 179th Airlift Wing base at the Mansfield-Lahm Regional Airport has officially received new orders from the U.S. Air Force. Originally the 179th was to be disbanded as recommended by the 2005 Base Relocation and Closure Act. They will still lose all eight of their C-130 aircraft by 2010. Beginning in 2012 they will start receiving an as yet disclosed number of new C-27J Spartan joint airlift aircraft. During the transition however they will remain active flying the C-21 Learjet. The base was saved from closure with efforts by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and other local leaders working with the Ohio Air National Guard officials.

Further good news is that the 179th could possibly become the formal training wing for the C-27J. In the meantime you can still monitor the 179th on the following frequencies:


119.8000 MANSFIELD TOWER
121.8000 GROUND
122.9500 UNICOM
124.2000 MANSFIELD APPROACH / DEPARTURE
125.3000 ATIS
127.3500 CLEVELAND APPROACH / DEPARTURE
297.5000 HERC COMMAND POST
317.7000 CLEVELAND CENTER
325.8000 TOWER / GROUND
390.8000 APPROACH