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Show BUffly I f High her Black widows' flagship passes 5,000 hour mark percent career course exam scores SO By Airman 1st Class Naklta Carlisle 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs The foUowiag people from the 388th Fighter Wing scored 90 percent or higher on their career development course exams. The 421st Fighter Squadron's flagship, "421" reached 5,000 flying hours April 3 to make it block 40 6 the highest-flyin- g in the U.S Air Force. Lt. Col. Scott Zobrist, 421st FS commander, piloted the aircraft during this momentous event "I like to compare this event to someone's vehicle rolling over 100,000 miles," said Maj. Kent Wong, 421st FS senior maintenance officer. "The significance Filter Sqtmixtm Airman 1 st Class Jessie Gall Airman 1st Clasa Marco Munoz 4tSi F-1- Fighter Squadron Staff Sgt Brian Peel 383Uj Equipment Makiteoasce Squadron Airman 1st Class William Baccus 388th Component Repair Squadron Staff Sgt. Jody Riteuour January 34th Fighter Squadron Senior Airman Joshua Conder Staff Sgt Aubrey Dickerson Airman 1st Class Ronald Dunn Senior Airman Kelly Pindte 729th Air Control Squadron F-1- 6s February F-1- 421th Figheer Squadron 1 st Class Rigoberto Perez 34th Fighter Squadron Tech, Sgt. Bruce Mayfield Staff Sgt. Alexander Lance 4th Fighter Squadron Staff 'WW Si-- about reaching 5,000 flying hours is the fact that we have the oldest or shall I say, the most in the mature Block 40 U.S. Air Force. No other Block 40 in the Air Force even comes close to us. This is a major milestone in the 6 community." Compared to the earlier models the manufacturer has of made improvements and still continues to improve the 6 design and combat capabilities to keep up with the latest technology. The difference between the Block 40s and earlier models of is its Low Altitude and Targeting Navigation Infrared for Night capabilities Global and Senior Airman Douglas Johnson 388th Logistic Support Squadron Senior Airman Jenny Skyberg Airman 388th Fighter Wing supplement to the Hilltop Times Thursday, April 11,2002 Twice Monthly 34th mwy F-1- . F-1- Sgt Troy Anderson 388th Component Repair Sqaudron Senior Airman Robert Kneberg Tech. Sgt. Kevin Jaqua F-1- 6s 383 th Equipment Maintenaace Squadron Airman Kelly Parker Ainnan 1st Class John Lance Senior Airman Steven Okowski Senior Airman Monte Porter fully-integrat- ed Positioning System. Photo By Airman 1st Class Naktta Carlisle Master Sgt James Kahlancft, 421st Fighter Squadron section chief of B flight crew chiefs, stands-b- y as Staff Sgt. Stephen White, 421st FS dedicated crew chief and Jonathan Pharr, assistant crew chief prepare the flagship for a routine mission. "When they designed the 6 they kept maintenance in mind and made things easier to get to," said Master Sgt. James Kahlandt, 421st FS airplane general section chief and first crew chief assigned to aircraft 421. "That's something they constantly try to do as they build more airplanes keep maintenance in mind and make it easier to cut down the amount of time it takes F-1- to 'turn' them." Wong. This particular high-flyin- Over the years the 421st FS g Falcon has been maintained by the best, said Major Wong. The maintainers are the reason the block 40 6 is in highest-flyin- g service today. "Their quick maintenance turnaround helped this particular aircraft to be available more often in support of our high sortie and utilization rate," said Major F-1- "Black Widows" have been to many different places around the world, and their flagship has been with them whenever possible. "Since it rolled out of the manufacturers in 990 it has been to 1 just about every F-1- 6 base throughout the (Continental U.S) See 5,000 hours Page B 729th Aif Control Squadron Airman 1st Class Adam Varsel Wing meets wins awar AFAF By Airman Madelyn Waychoff 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs goa 30,000 m 25,000 fl "l 20,000 Pgy "Quality of life to us means giving our people a place to work that is pleasant and comfortable to work in, and a place they can be proud of coming to every day," said Senior Master Sgt. Mark Thomas, 729th Air Control Squadron maintenance superintendent. The 729th Air Control Squadron won three base quality of life awards in the past six months a first and third place award for September through December, and a third place award for January through March. The 75th Air Base Wing runs the quality of life program. The program allows units on base to improve their work areas through r fi.--- 3 r renova tions "We just wanted to give our folks a place to work in that wasn't run down," said Sergeant Thomas. The "Angry Warriors" first place award was for the remodeling and redecorating of an old break room. The squadron's third place award was for taking an old empty break room and turning it into a useful work and storage area. The first place award earned the unit $1,000, which they used to purchase a digital camera for - The 388th Fighter Wing met the 2002 goal for the Air Force Assistance Fund campaign by raising $26,860. The 388th Equipment Maintenance Squadron set the standard giving more than $2,000 than their squadron goal. There is one more day before the charitable campaign ends for people to contribute to the fund. Contact your unit AFAF point of contact to donate. self-hel- projects. The award money given out for the projects may be used for anything the squadron wants, not must improvements, said Lt. Col. Francis Xavier, 729th ACS commander. p Photo by Tech. Sgt. Sona Whittington photographing exercises and squadron events, said Sergeant Thomas. The decision to remodel the squadron wasn't made by any single person, said Airman 1st Class Darwyn Klatt, everyone just knew that it had to be done. See Quality of Life Page C Senior Airman Troy Hawkes and Staff Sgt. Michael Hartman stand In the renovated 729th Air Control Squadron Job control section. The squadron building, on the north side of the base and originally designed to hold only about 180 people, now holds more than twice that, and it hasn't been remodeled in more than 16 years, said Sergeant Thomas. 388th EMS restores piece of history for Museum By Airman 1st Class Nakita Carlisle 388th Fighter Wing Public Affairs 1 TNN The 388th Equipment Maintenance Squadron is repairing a piece of history the MiG-1- 7 "Fresco" purchased by the Hill Aerospace Museum as one of many indoor static displays they have. Introduced in 1951, the MiG-1named after its inventor Mikoyan-Gurevichas been in the service of many nations and in combat throughout the world. However, the most visible role for which this deadly Russian fighter is known is the battles against the U.S. pilots in the n skies over Vietnam. "It's a unique opportunity," said 2nd Lt. Raymond Fike, 388th EMS assistant maintenance flight commander. "It's exciting to do something for the museum and be able to 7, h, o war-tor- Photo By Airmen t st Class Nakita Carlisle Airman 1st Class Brice Hollander, Inspection section technician, and Tech. Sgt Dave Jensen, Inspection section dock chief, inspect the MiG-17. Mnmmv oontamx! Iwn do not oonmut naornnunt by th Oaptitnw at Mm. U S. A Fore at H AFB. Ewethmg dvwtMw a avsHabto without ngd to ik. ootoi, work on an old jet. You can see them at air shows or at museums, but very few people actually get to work on them. "The shop seems excited about it also," he added. 'They even come in on their own time to work on it." However, the flight has many challenges ahead of them because the MiG-1- 7 didn't come with any technical data, he explained. So, they will have to take it as it comes using the knowledge and skills they have acquired over the years fixing and maintaining jets. "It's been pretty simple so far," said Staff Sgt. Douglas Franolich, EMS inspection section technician. The majoriare from the Phase ty of the people working on the MiG-1- 7 docks so they have the mechanical skills to fix the plane. The only difficult task so far was putting the wings back See MiG-1- 7 Page B rhomv mk. oi ow nonmtrtl ttcta ot th putcfluw. tw or patron. |