Mansfield Goes Spartan!

Some people may find Friday the 13th to be an unlucky date. For the people of Mansfield, Ohio, it could be their luckiest one. It was on Friday August 13th that the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard accepted the first of four new C-27J Spartan aircraft that the unit is transitioning to from the C-130 Hercules aircraft they have been flying since 1976. This move is a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005. The Alenia built C-27J Spartan is a medium sized military transport aircraft ordered as the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) for use by all United States military.

The C-27J is an advanced version of Alenia Aeronautica's G.222, using the engines and systems from the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. An estimated crowd of around 800 friends, family, local legislative and high ranking air guard officials attended the ceremony. The ceremony closed with the christening of the first plane as "The Spirit of Mansfield". By February 2011, unit commander Colonel Gary McCue states the 179th should have four of the C-27J Spartans on base. U.S. Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown promises to relentlessly pursue having Mansfield designated as a national training base for the new aircraft. This promises to provide Ohio Area Milcom listeners more monitoring opportunities in the years to come.

2010 Vectren Dayton Air Show Frequencies

Ohio Milcom Blog Reporters Darryl Furguson, Tony Stewart and Rod Villari are checking in with frequencies monitored for this year's Dayton Airshow.

AERONAUTICAL OPERATIONS:

123.150                 Air Show Discrete
123.475                 Sean Tucker
124.900                 Air Boss
139.8125 NFM  67.0 PL   Blue Angels Maintenance
142.6125 NFM  67.0 PL   Blue Angels Tower Spotter
237.800                 Blue Angels Solos
275.350                 Blue Angels Diamond
284.250                 Blue Angels Show Box
305.900                 Fat Albert
346.500                 Blue Angels Check List
384.550                 Unknown Use


SUPPORT FREQUENCIES:

451.500        Airshow operations?  (repeater)
451.800        Shuttle Buses
456.800        Gate Ops
460.4625       Parking (narrow band ?, low modulation)
469.500        Vendors
469.550        Vendors

First A-10 Thunderbolt IIs Arrive at Fort Wayne

The first four of what is expected to be a compliment of twenty A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter planes arrived at Fort Wayne IAP on June 30th. The A-10s are replacing the Block 30 F-16s that the 122nd FW has been flying the past few years. The aging F-16s are being retired and the Indiana Air National Guard will transition to the larger fighters. Hanger space is being expanded to house the bigger aircraft.

Bad News For Springfield - The Dutch Move to Tucson

The Dutch Daily News is reporting this morning that the Royal Netherlands Air Force will return to Tucson International Airport for pilot training with the 162nd Fighter Wing. For the past five years the Dutch have been training with the Ohio National Guard's 178th FW at Springfield-Beckley ANGB. The OHANG has been in long term negotiations with the RNLAF, but the Dutch have decided to return to Tucson instead. They will base 14 of their F-16 aircraft there at Tucson beginning in January 2011 just as they have at Springfield since 2005.

This is bad news for milcom monitors here in southwest Ohio who are used to hearing daily action in the local Military Operations Areas that are nearby. The 178th FW has been slated to disband in accordance to the 2005 BRAC. Area officials have been trying to negotiate a new contact to keep the Dutch at Springfield into the future,. a future which is now up in the air...so to speak.

178th Heads to Hungary

For the first time since 2001 around 100 members of the 178th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard based at Springfield will fly overseas to Kecskemet, Hungary. The 178th will participate with the Hungarian Joint Force command as part of a two-week training exercise. Most of the members will fly separately, with the fighter jets to follow. Originally the jets were to have left on Thursday April 22nd, but the flight lane disruptions from the erupting Iceland Volcano have delayed that. Look for the jets to take-off in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning the 25th. The 178th normally use the callsign "BUCKEYE" for transit outside of Ohio.

OPENING DAY FLYOVER

Four F-16s from the Ohio National Guard's 178th FW based at Springfield-Beckley MAP will conduct a pre-game fly over of Great American Ballpark. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM so expect the fly over few minutes before then. Keep an ear on CVG frequencies and Indy ARTCC as well as air to air in the 138-143 MHz range.

Try these for activity:

118.300     CVG Tower
118.850     DAY pproach/Departure
120.700     SGH Tower
123.875     CVG Approach
123.925     ZID ARTCC Merwyn RCAG
126.650     CVG Approach
128.700     CVG Approach
254.250     CVG Approach
281.400     ZID ARTCC Merwyn RCAG
290.500     ZID ARTCC Merwyn RCAG
363.150     CVG Approach
383.100     SGH Tower

Photo courtesy of Blues Skies Aerial Photography

Wright-Patterson's 445th AW to fly the C-17 Globemaster III

On March 12th, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force Chief of Staff approved the replacement of the C-5As flown by the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base with the C-17 Globemaster III. The first four of eight C-17s are expected to arrive in fiscal year 2011 after five C-5As are retired from service.

Delivery of the four newer aircraft are expected in FY 2012 when the rest of the C-5 fleet is retired. The Air Force Reserve Command unit has been flying the C-5As since the retirement of the C-141 Starlifter in May 2006. The last C-141C (serial 66-0177) known as the "Hanoi Taxi" is now housed at the National Museum of The United States Air Force adjacent to WPAFB.

While the C-17 is smaller and carries a lighter payload, it has the ability for rapid deployment, less maintenance and can land on shorter airfields. The C-17 first went into service in the early 90s. The C-5 Galaxy has been flying for over 40 years and is now less cost effective to maintain.
The 445th Airlift wing will become the Air Force Reserve Command's 4th C-17 Unit and the second to fly its own Globemaster III aircraft.

SPRINGFIELD NOT GETTING SINGAPORE JOBS

Springfield ANGB was hoping to land a contract training pilots of the Singapore Air Force. Instead those jobs will be going to the 162nd Fighter Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard based at Tucson. The reason for this, is that it costs between $900,000 and $1.2 million less to train per pilot.

Springfield has been hosting the Royal Netherlands Air Force since 2007 and that contract expires this fall, it is currently being negotiated to extend the RNLAF training. When that 10 year Base Realignment And Closure mission as a training base ends, 150 full time jobs and the base itself are at risk of being lost. Everyone from local politicians to the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff are committing themselves to keep the base open and operational. One of the cost factors involved with Singapore not coming to Springfield is that they would have to lease the jets to fly. The 178th FW is slated to lose all of it's F-16 aircraft in accordance to the BRAC directives.
In the meantime daily training sorties continue to provide local milair enthusiasts some interesting monitoring.