Story by Master Sgt. Whitney Hughes

Colchester, Vt. – “At midnight it was time to move,” said retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Pete Ferrell, recalling a night in Afghanistan.

He gripped the handle of one of the four corners of a field stretcher carrying a wounded Soldier. A tray of medical equipment on the Soldier’s chest chirped as it monitored vital signs and sustained him. The team of four Soldiers locked step, carrying the patient onto a plane bound for a higher level of care.

As the plane transporting the wounded Soldier took off, Ferrell found himself on the same runway at Bagram Airfield where the deployment began months earlier. There at the feet of the towering Hindu Kush mountain range, four decades and nearly 3,000 miles stood between him and the jungles he hovered over in a UH-1 “Huey” helicopter in Vietnam, during his first combat tour.

In 2010, at age 62, Ferrell secured an age waiver and volunteered for the deployment to Afghanistan with the Vermont Army National Guard’s 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain).

“He always seeks something bigger than himself to be part of, that’s just who Pete is,” said U.S. Army Maj. Beth Carrier, a physician assistant with the New Hampshire Army National Guard who deployed with Ferrell to Bosnia in 2002 when she was a flight medic. “I can only hope that somewhere in my life that I am a fraction as good of a human as he is.”

For many, it’s hard to imagine that the Vietnam veteran who flew over 250 combat hours as a Huey crew chief and survived being shot down in Laos felt he owed more.

“I never got wounded or had PTSD. I was still capable, and I felt I still had to do more,” said Ferrell. When he arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1970 as helicopter mechanic he was assigned to the night maintenance shift in a hangar. It was far from the excitement of flying he had imagined as a child in Braintree, Massachusetts, watching planes take off and land at the airport and flying his own model aircraft.

So, he went to his platoon sergeant and asked for a flight platoon assignment.A few days later, the platoon sergeant told him to shadow another Soldier who showed him how to do daily maintenance on a Huey.

“Then he says, ‘OK that one’s yours,’” said Ferrell. From then on, the 22-year-old specialist was now in charge of his own helicopter. “We learned a lot about maintenance in training, but overseeing a whole aircraft was a lot of responsibility.”

But along with the added responsibility, he also got his childhood wish.

“When the aircraft flew, you went with it,” he said.Ferrell said he mostly flew “ash and trash missions” – lift missions that could include transporting anything from troops to supplies to mail.

However, about three months before his tour ended, his unit was selected for Operation Lam 719, a highly contested two-month offensive where they flew South Vietnamese troops into southeastern Laos. The objective was to disrupt North Vietnam’s military supply network on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Ferrell said he knew this mission was not routine; the danger felt so imminent that he prayed.

“I started out saying the 23rd Psalm when we took off on the first three sorties, and by the fourth one I must have gotten too comfortable,” he said. “One pilot said to the other, ‘Stay tight to this hill,’ and he no sooner said that and the windshield for the aircraft was blown out.”

The aircraft crashed, but Ferrell and the rest of the crew survived.

“Somebody started yelling, ‘Come on, come on!’” he said, adding that another aircraft had landed nearby and they all started running to it. “I grabbed my M16 and started tromping through the jungle, and we all got on the other aircraft and flew out.”

It wasn’t until Ferrell was on the plane flying home from Vietnam with a ream of military records that he realized he had received 10 Air Medals for his combat flight hours, one with a valor device for the mission on which he was shot down.

He finished his active-duty service in 1973 and settled into civilian life. He married Deb, the woman he exchanged letters with throughout the war, and moved to Vermont where they had their first son.

Then in 1981 he heard a familiar sound and looked up in the Vermont sky and saw Hueys overhead. Ferrell said he knew he had to track them down. He found them in a hangar in Burlington, Vermont, at a Vermont Army Guard aviation unit.

“I walked in and there were 12 Hueys there and it was like a homecoming. I was home again,” he said. Ferrell met with a flight platoon sergeant who assuaged his fears that if he joined the Guard he might end up sweeping floors rather than maintaining and flying aircraft.

And with that, Ferrell re-enlisted and was back working on Hueys.

In 1998 the unit transitioned to the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and assumed a medevac mission. Ferrell was hesitant about learning a new aircraft and mission. That was until he teamed up with Carrier, then a 20-year-old specialist so passionate about her role as a flight medic that she inspired him.

“She taught me that it was all about saving lives, and there’s no better mission than that,” he said.

Ferrell didn’t come around right away though, Carrier said, adding he refused to do medical training and insisted his job as the crew chief didn’t require it. However, he changed his tune after they medevaced a Soldier with severe appendicitis – their first real-world patient in Bosnia.

After the mission, Ferrell told Carrier that her ability to help the Soldier had captivated him, but he admitted he felt helpless to assist.

“He completely did a 180 on the entire idea of not touching a patient. It was a 100% adjustment of his thought process,” she said. “From then on, he wanted to do all he could, asking ‘What can I do? What can I learn? What can you teach me so I can help you?’”

In turn, he used his knowledge of the aircraft to help her set her medical gear up to deliver care more expediently. These were lessons she would take with her when their careers parted ways, and she deployed to Iraq and later when she was commissioned as an officer and went on to study medicine.

But the two remained close. Ferrell was even the “man of honor” at her wedding, which required him to don a raspberry pink shirt for the occasion.

“I always knew with him I was well protected. On the hoist he could drop me on a dime. I always knew that the aircraft that we were on was the safest that it could possibly be. That was because of Pete’s work ethic,” she said.

When Ferrell returned from the Bosnia deployment, personnel moves in the aviation unit led him to move on from aviation. Eventually, he was assigned to the headquarters of the 86th IBCT (MTN), which led to his Afghanistan deployment.

When Ferrell told his wife and sons about volunteering for the deployment, he said they were the only people in his family who didn’t think he was crazy.

“It’s just a part of who he is, and it’s how they [his sons] always knew their father,” said his wife. “So, it was just, he’s going to be gone for a while, but he’ll be back and we will, as we say, improvise, adapt, and overcome.”

When he arrived in Afghanistan his daily duties at the headquarters company kept him mostly at Bagram, but as he had throughout his career, Ferrell felt he still had more to give.

One night he stumbled upon it while sitting in the base’s operations center. A major from another section told him he had a mission at the airfield. Ferrell’s interest was piqued. It turned out that the officer had inadvertently found Ferrell another medevac mission; transferring wounded patients from the field hospital onto aircraft bound to take them to facilities with higher levels of care.

“You know like Beth had taught me, saving lives is the greatest mission there is, and that is what it was,” he said. He began to stop at the hospital every day after his shift to ask if volunteers were needed that night but never mentioned his side quests to anybody in his unit until years later. He continued the late-night missions until he returned home from Afghanistan just before Christmas 2010.

By then, he was 63 years old, three years past the standard mandatory retirement age, and finally retired from the military in 2011 with 33 years of service.

“You get home from Vietnam, you realize how many men were lost and how many were wounded, and you think ‘why me? Why did I survive,’” he said. “You figure out that there is a plan here, so you have to go with it. You take it as the blessing that you were saved for a reason. I can look back now and say that this is where God was pointing me.”

Story by Scott Sturkol

Aircrews from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation Regiment (1-147th Aviation) completed another unit training effort Oct. 9, 2026, at Fort McCoy, continuing a longstanding relationship between the aviation unit and the installation.

According to Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS) scheduling officials, the training was among the first major military training activities at Fort McCoy during the opening days of fiscal year 2027, which began Oct. 1.

The officials also noted that the 1-147th maintains a presence at Fort McCoy nearly every month of the year.

The Oct. 9 training included extensive aircrew proficiency activities, familiarization with designated flight routes and other aviation training requirements. These activities provide aircrews opportunities to become familiar with the installation’s airspace, operating environment and available training resources while maintaining the skills necessary to support military missions.

Headquartered in Madison, Wis., the 1-147th Aviation Regiment is part of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s aviation force, Wisconsin Guard officials note. Its aviation capabilities include UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and UH-72 Lakota light utility helicopters, which provide support for military operations, transportation, command and control, medical evacuation and emergency-response missions.

The battalion’s medical evacuation aviation capabilities include personnel and aircraft operating from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s Army Aviation Support Facility in West Bend, Wis. The aircraft and crews regularly travel to Fort McCoy to conduct specialized training and support other military activities.

The unit’s relationship with Fort McCoy extends well beyond its October training effort. As reported in an April 2025 Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office article, Soldiers with the 1-147th brought more than a dozen helicopters, aircrews and support personnel to Fort McCoy for a major drill training exercise. The aircraft included UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters and UH-72A Lakota helicopters from West Bend, along with additional personnel and equipment from the battalion’s Madison location.

During that training, the unit conducted multiple scenarios and training lanes, including hot- and cold-load training involving the movement of simulated patients during medical evacuation operations.

Capt. Cole Hamilton, operations officer with the 1-147th, discussed the importance of the April 2025 field training exercise, explaining that it was designed to help prepare the unit for an upcoming mobilization.

The training also demonstrated how Fort McCoy’s aviation resources and training locations can accommodate multiple aircraft and support personnel. James L. Hubbard, airport manager with the Fort McCoy DPTMS Airfield Division, described how the unit operated aircraft and personnel from Sparta-Fort McCoy Airport, Young Air Assault Strip, and other training locations on the installation’s South Post.

The 1-147th has also used Fort McCoy for specialized medical evacuation training that directly supports its lifesaving mission.

In a June 21, 2022, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office article, it was reported that Soldiers with the battalion conducted live-hoist training June 7, 2022, at Big Sandy Lake at Fort McCoy. The exercise involved aircrews using hoist equipment to lower rescue personnel and retrieve simulated victims from the water using a rescue basket.

Maj. Donald Graham, then serving as the 1-147th’s administrative and executive officer, explained during the training that live-hoist operations are a critical skill for medical evacuation aircraft.

Graham said terrain, slopes and other obstacles can prevent an aircraft from safely landing at a rescue location. Hoist capabilities allow aircrews to lower a medic into restrictive areas to provide immediate medical care before safely extracting injured individuals for transport.
Graham also discussed real-world live-hoist rescue missions conducted by Wisconsin Army National Guard aircrews involving injured or stranded individuals in Wisconsin.

The battalion continued demonstrating those capabilities during Patriot ‘26 in August 2026. According to an Aug. 28, 2026, article published by the 165th Airlift Wing Public Affairs Office, Soldiers assigned to the 1-147th conducted medical evacuation hoist training at Fort McCoy’s Combined Arms Collective Training Facility. The exercise involved role players portraying simulated casualties, allowing aircrews to practice locating, hoisting and evacuating patients from areas where terrain or other conditions could prevent an aircraft from landing.

The training was part of a larger domestic-response readiness exercise involving approximately 1,000 Airmen and Soldiers from National Guard units across 35 states, along with federal, state and local agencies.

The battalion also conducted extensive aviation readiness training at Fort McCoy throughout May 2026. In a June 5, 2026, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office article, it reported on the unit’s aviation training activities, which included flight operations, aircrew proficiency, aircraft maintenance, tactical mission planning and aviation support in a field environment.

In July 2026, the unit’s UH-60 Black Hawks and aircrews supported numerous military training events across Fort McCoy’s more than 60,000 acres of maneuver land. Another Fort McCoy article published Aug. 4, 2026, highlighted the unit’s support of troop transportation, command-and-control activities, and other aviation requirements. The unit also supported a Wisconsin Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Boss Lift at Fort McCoy on July 22.

The UH-60 Black Hawk provides the Army with a versatile utility helicopter capable of performing missions that include air assault, troop transportation, aeromedical evacuation, command and control, and general aviation support, according to its fact sheet.

For the 1-147th, recurring training at Fort McCoy provides opportunities to maintain those capabilities while working in an environment that supports both aviation and ground-force operations.

Fort McCoy’s extensive maneuver areas, aviation facilities, landing zones, available airspace and support infrastructure provide military units with opportunities to conduct realistic training while coordinating with other organizations operating throughout the installation.

The battalion’s continued presence also possibly illustrates the variety of military training that takes place at Fort McCoy throughout the year. From routine aircrew proficiency and aircraft operations to specialized medical evacuation exercises, the installation provides resources that help National Guard aviation personnel maintain readiness for both state and federal missions.

Through its recurring training activities, the 1-147th Aviation Regiment continues to demonstrate the importance of Fort McCoy as a year-round training partner for Wisconsin’s military forces.

Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.” The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”

And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”

Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online athttps://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on DVIDS by visiting https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/FMPAO on DVIDS. Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”

Story by Christy Barnett

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (October 22, 2026) — For more than five decades, the story of United States Army aviation has been written in the skies, defined by rapid technological leaps, rigorous safety standards, and brave pioneers who pushed aircraft to their absolute aerodynamic limits. Few individuals have shaped this narrative as profoundly, or for as long, as Marvin “Lynn” Hanks.

This year, Hanks concludes an extraordinary career spanning 56 years of continuous service to the nation. From his collegiate beginnings in aerospace engineering and commissioning as a Corps of Engineers officer, to his final days of civil service at Redstone Arsenal, Hanks’ journey stands as a masterclass in flight test engineering, experimental Army aviation, and unwavering dedication to the Warfighter.

Early Roots and Vietnam Service

Born in 1947 in Memphis, Tennessee, Hanks developed an early fascination with flight and military service. While attending Frayser High School in Memphis, where he served as senior class president, his leadership in Junior ROTC earned him a four-year Army ROTC scholarship to Auburn University. At Auburn, Hanks immersed himself in the science of aeronautics, earning a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in December 1969 while receiving his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Entering active duty in January 1970, Hanks reported to Army fixed-wing flight training that fall, pinning on his aviator wings in January 1971. Following an initial assignment piloting the U-8 Seminole with the 5th Army flight detachment at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, he completed rotary-wing qualification at Fort Rucker, Alabama, mastering the OH-58A Kiowa and UH-1 Iroquois.

In November 1971, Hanks deployed to Vietnam for a year-long combat tour. Operating in demanding and hostile combat conditions, he demonstrated remarkable adaptability by flying a diverse operational fleet that included the AH-1G Cobra attack helicopter, the O-1 Bird Dog, the U-6 Beaver, and the U-21A Ute utility turboprop. The crucible of combat flying instilled in him the foundational principles of situational discipline, technical precision, and aircraft survivability under fire.

The Active-Duty Flight Test Era (1973–1993)

Upon returning from Southeast Asia, Hanks turned his engineering intellect toward the demanding discipline of research, development, test, and evaluation. In January 1973, he arrived at Edwards Air Force Base, California, serving three years as a flight test engineer. During this tour, he played a central role in pioneering artificial icing flight tests utilizing the newly qualified Helicopter Icing Spray System, known across the Army test community as HISS.

In 1976, Hanks took his technical expertise overseas for two years with the Army Corps of Engineers flight detachment in Saudi Arabia, piloting the C-12A Huron and Convair 580 in support of vital regional infrastructure and advisory missions. His selection for the prestigious U.S. Naval Test Pilot School followed, graduating with Class 75 in June 1979 after intensive test evaluations on platforms such as the OH-58, AH-1G, and CH-46 Sea Knight.

As a newly minted experimental test pilot, Hanks was assigned to the Army Aviation Engineering Flight Activity, formerly the Army Aviation Systems Test Activity, at Edwards AFB. Between 1979 and 1984, he piloted developmental tests on frontline aircraft including the UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook, OV-1 Mohawk, and RC-12 Guardrail, while concurrently graduating from the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

His later active-duty years balanced operational strategy with cutting-edge flight research. From 1984 to 1986, Hanks served at the Pentagon with the Defense Intelligence Agency as a rotary-wing systems intelligence analyst. He returned to the cockpit in 1987 as a key member of the joint V-22 Multi-Service Test Team, flying and evaluating prototype tiltrotor flight dynamics to help usher in a new paradigm of vertical lift technology.

Hanks closed out his military service in leadership positions at Edwards AFB, serving as Director of Flight Test for the Army Aviation Engineering Flight Activity before commanding the Airworthiness Qualification Test Directorate from April 1990 until his active-duty retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel in October 1993.

Civil Service and the Modern Test Mission (1993–Present)

Recognizing that Hanks’ institutional memory and flight test acumen were irreplaceable, the Department of the Army immediately hired him as a civil service experimental test pilot in October 1993.

As the Army’s developmental aviation infrastructure transformed, Hanks remained at the center of the mission. When his directorate transitioned to the Aviation Technical Test Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 1996, and subsequently consolidated under the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center at Redstone Arsenal in 2009, Hanks guided the enterprise through every evolution. Over his 33 years in civil service, he served in cornerstone roles as Chief Test Pilot, Fixed-Wing Standardization Pilot and Instructor Pilot, and the Army’s preeminent Subject Matter Expert and Test Director for aircraft in-flight icing protection systems.

Mastery of the Skies: 12,000 Accident-Free Hours

The breadth of Lynn Hanks’ flight resume is virtually unmatched in modern military aviation. As a dual-rated Master Army Aviator, he earned flight qualifications in 18 distinct military aircraft families, spanning six rotary-wing and 12 fixed-wing platforms that comprised more than 40 unique sub-variants. Whether evaluating attack helicopters like the Cobra and Apache, heavy-lift workhorses like the Chinook, utility lifelines like the Black Hawk and Huey, or fixed-wing platforms like the Mohawk, Beaver, Sherpa, and Huron, Hanks proved an adept and intuitive pilot in every cockpit.

Yet his most extraordinary accomplishment is the safety record that accompanied his experimental test envelope. More than 56 years spent piloting prototypes, developmental airframes, and heavily modified test articles through deliberate high-risk flutter, stalls, icing clouds, and structural strain, Hanks logged more than 12,000 accident-free flight hours. In a career lived on the absolute margins of aviation safety, his immaculate logbook remains a testament to rigorous preparation, methodical discipline, and uncompromising airmanship.

Mentorship and Global Aerospace Leadership

Beyond his own achievements at the flight controls, Hanks dedicated decades to cultivating the next generation of test professionals. As a standardization pilot and senior flight instructor, he personally trained generations of military and civilian experimental test pilots and flight test engineers in both fixed- and rotary-wing flight test techniques, instilling an enduring ethos of intellectual honesty and engineering rigor.

Hanks’ influence resonated throughout the international aerospace community. A fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP), he was elected international president of the society for the 2000–2001 term and was honored in 2008 with the prestigious SETP James H. Doolittle Award for excellence in aerospace management and engineering. Demonstrating a lifelong commitment to educational advancement, he has also served as a trustee on the SETP Scholarship Foundation since 2005. He remains a life member of both SETP and the Society of Flight Test Engineers.

Honoring a Legend: The Retirement Ceremony

On Thursday, October 22, 2026, the aviation community gathered at the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center’s Aviation Flight Test Directorate on Redstone Arsenal to formally honor Hanks’ career. Presided over by retired COL Austin Omlie, the ceremony drew generations of colleagues, family members, and distinguished former Army leaders who had commanded the various test and developmental organizations where Hanks served across the decades.

During the ceremony, current AFTD Commander LTC Dan Brown delivered remarks capturing Hanks’ profound imprint on the organization and the wider Army enterprise.

“Lynn Hanks and flight test are interchangeable—they are one and the same,” Brown said. “When you think of Lynn Hanks, you think of flight test, and when you think of Army flight test, you think of Lynn Hanks. Lynn, this is a bittersweet moment for retirement. You have blazed many trails, carried out many missions, and taught all of us more than you will ever know. Thank you for letting us share in your 56 years of federal service.”

Addressing the colleagues, friends, and multi-generational family members gathered to celebrate his milestone, Hanks offered reflections marked by characteristic modesty and deep gratitude. Looking out across the flight test community, he underscored the professional bonds forged through decades of shared risk and discovery in the cockpit.

“As I look around the group here, I’ve probably flown with just about every pilot in this audience—and loved it. I loved every minute of it,” Hanks remarked. “Many flight test engineers out there I also had a chance to fly with and share technical ideas.”

He reserved special praise for the workforce at the Aviation Flight Test Directorate, acknowledging the exceptional caliber of the men and women who continue the mission.

“Everybody who’s ever served in AFTD understands the technical expertise, the high level of education, of understanding about the technical issues of flying, both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft,” he noted, before drawing laughter by quipping that while he would have liked to fly with each new teammate, they were simply getting too young.

Turning to personal foundations, Hanks recognized his family in attendance and his wife of nearly 30 years, Kim, describing her as a cornerstone of his life and career. Noting that she is herself an accomplished flight test engineer at AFTD and recognized technical subject matter expert. Hanks credited her steadfast partnership, along with her artistic balance as a violist performing with the Madison City Community Orchestra, for keeping their shared journey grounded and fulfilling.

An Unrivaled 56-Year Journey

When Lynn Hanks first pulled pitch and advanced the throttles as a young Army aviator in 1970, military flight relied on grease pencils, paper aeronautical charts, and analog steam gauges. As he prepares to step away from his desk at AFTD, he leaves behind an Army aviation enterprise defined by digital glass cockpits, advanced fly-by-wire flight control architectures, integrated sensors, and air-launched effects—technologies he personally helped evaluate, refine, and prove airworthy.

During his unparalleled career, Lynn Hanks directly shaped the safety and capability of almost every aircraft in the modern Army inventory. From pioneering helicopter icing flight limits to directing critical aviation testing initiative, his work has been indispensable to the modernization of military aviation. Mr. Hanks’s technical expertise, visionary guidance, and enduring leadership have driven monumental advancements in flight test engineering, directly enhancing the survivability of combat effectiveness of countless Warfighters.

Thank you, Lynn, for 56 extraordinary years of keeping our aviators safe and our aircraft flying high.

*The U.S. Army Redstone Test Center is located at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, and is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command. RTC provides technical expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, and capabilities to plan, conduct, analyze, and report the results of tests on missile and aviation systems, sensors, subsystems, and components. For more information, visit the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center. For more information, visit the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center website*.

Story by Brad Rhen

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – The inaugural unmanned aircraft system military occupational specialty transition course began here recently.

The course, which began Oct. 19, combines two MOSs – UAS maintainer, or 15E, and UAS operator, or 15W – into one new MOS, known as tactical unmanned aircraft system specialist, or 15X.

“‘Whiskeys’ were UAS operators and ‘Echoes’ were UAS maintainers, and ‘X-ray,’ you do all of it,” said Sgt. 1st Class Brent Wehr, course manager.

The course is being conducted at the UAS Training and Innovation Facility, which underwent numerous upgrades in order to host the course. The Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site is providing oversight since the UAS TIF is not a schoolhouse.

Pennsylvania is one of two states, along with Mississippi, chosen to host the course for National Guard Soldiers. It is open to National Guard Soldiers from all 54 states and territories.

The first class has 12 students – eight from the Wisconsin National Guard and four from the Pennsylvania National Guard.

The course is seven weeks long. During the first two weeks, the students are separated by MOS, with 15Es learning 15W tasks and vice versa.

“Basically, ‘Echoes’ will learn stuff like air space, aviation weather, gunnery stuff, and ‘Whiskeys’ will learn electronics, soldering, maintenance, manuals and things like that,” Wehr said.

After the first two weeks, the students will be back together, and they’ll start learning what a 15X is, Wehr said. “You’re an operator, you’re a maintainer, you’re a trainer, you’re a fabricator,” Wehr said. “For those two weeks, they’ll learn how to use CAD (computer-aided design) programs, how to do 3D printing, survival of UAS missions, UAS capabilities.”

After that, there will be three weeks of tactical flight training and attack lanes.

“We want to teach them how to properly employ the UAS, not just here but their UAS at home, how to properly plan a mission, how to tactically maneuver through terrain, how to not just fly a UAS, but fly tactically and tactfully,” Wehr said.

The course will conclude with a culminating exercise.

A week in, the course is going smoothly, Wehr said.

“The students seem to enjoy it,” Wehr said. “The fun part comes when you go out to the lanes. It’s going to be the first time for some of them doing the tactical stuff.”

Spc. Andrew Hearsey of Mike Co., 56th Mobile Brigade Combat Team is one of the students in the class. Hearsey was previously a UAS maintainer, or 15E.

“I think it’s a great class,” Hearsey said. “There’s a lot of engaging, hands-on exercises, and the instruction is good.”

Hearsey, an Annville, Pennsylvania, native, said he was familiar with some of the things the course has covered so far, but the course also covering things he was not familiar with.

Given the proliferation of drones in warfare, Hearsey said this is an important course.

“It’s going to really be shaping the reconnaissance aspects and the front lines of the battlefield in the future,” Hearsey said.

Being part of the first class is exciting, Hearsey said.

“It’s neat to be part of this big change,” Hearsey said. “Nobody else will get this opportunity because there’s never going to be another first class.”

The course currently has five instructors, all from the Pennsylvania National Guard, and five more Soldiers are going through training to become instructors. All instructors must complete a seven-week course at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, plus a two-week online course.

Plans call for having five or six classes a year and eventually having 24 to 30 students per class, Wehr said.

Looking Back
By Mark Albertson

A Look Back: January-February 1960

Everyone a Senator!

Recently 19 members of the Mississippi State University Student Chapter of the Institute of Aeronautical Science had occasion to make a field trip to Fort Rucker, Alabama.  The purpose of the trip was to familiarize the students with the role and needs of Army Aviation.

The majority of the visitors were senior or graduate students of Aeronautical or Mechanical Engineering.  They were accompanied by Professor Charles Cliett of the Aeronautical Engineering Department at Mississippi State.  Four of the students were Army R.O.T.C. students who, in taking flight training at M.S.U., had the opportunity to get an advanced briefing on what of what they hope will be their future.

While at Fort Rucker they were briefed by Major General Easterbrook and members of his staff, and by the Department of Maintenance:  Fixed and Rotary Wing Training, T.A.T.S.A, S.A.T.S.A., as well as by Combat Developments and the Army Aviation Board.  Visits to Hooper and Cairns Fields were also included.  At the former they witnessed rotary wing training and at the latter viewed new aircraft such as the YAC–1DH, Hughes HYO–2HU; the YH–40 or HU-14; the Beech L-23F, and others.

This field trip was initiated by Major Robert H. Hurst and Captain David B. King, both retired Army Aviators and also students in the Aero School at M.S.C. under the civil schooling program.

We were all impressed by the amount of effort everyone at the Center made to see that our stay was informative and pleasant.  I do not think that a group of visiting Senators could have been given better attention.  By means of this letter I wish to let those not at Fort Rucker know what a fine team they have as support and, at the same time, give thanks to a splendid group of officers and enlisted men

– H. Marshall Claybourn

Source:  Page 7, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 28, 1960.

* * * * *

Helicopter Operations in Algeria

By Major General Ernest F. Easterbrook
Commanding General U.S. Army Aviation Center
Fort Rucker, Alabama

How well can a helicopter survive in combat?

There have been a number pro and con discussions on this topic—all of them speculation—but the men who fly these machines are perhaps the most confident of all.  Their faith in the helicopter as substantiated recently by an authoritative eyewitness who participated in the brush-fire Algerian fighting for three years.  This is the first time armed helicopters and aerial troop carriers as we know them today, actually participated in actual combat.

Ren Pierpoint, the European representative for Vertol, reported all helicopters passed the combat test with flying colors.

Pierpoint reported on brush-type warfare alone.  However, this is the very type we can expect to encounter.  Significantly, he also reported on a phrase that is important to any war—and that is weather and terrain.

The Algerian fighting was over both desert and mountains, wherever a rebel band was concentrated.  The temperature was quite often 110 degrees and the altitude was sometimes 7,000 feet in the mountain operations. Still, the helicopters proved ideal for all phases of the operation.

Mr. Pierpoint was the first to admit one defect in the torrid, mountain area.  He said, “the power of the helicopter under these conditions left something to be desired.”  Since he was primarily referring to the troop-carrying, American-made H-21s and H-34s in use by the French, it verifies our projected plans of switching to turbine-powered machinery.

Three-Year Observations

The three-year study Mr. Pierpoint conducted, as illustrated with slides, proved the helicopters to be the most feasible machines for suppressing the rebel activity in the terrain and wiping out the isolated rebel band activity.

He added, however, the helicopters were exposed to nothing larger than .30 caliber firepower.  These projectiles had little affect on the helicopters after self-sealing fuel tanks were installed.  Before then, fuel vulnerability posed a problem and some copters went down in flames.

Projectiles fired through the rotor blades or striking other moving parts did not disable the aircraft to the extent that they did not return to home base.  On rotor blade hits, a piece of tape was placed on the hole.  When bullets went through the metal “skin” of the machine, they tumbled and lost penetrating power and failed to affect the moving parts.

The organizational set-up utilized and proven feasible in the fighting was remarkably similar to that under by the Army and being developed at the Army Aviation Center.

According to Pierpoint, H-21s and H-34s were used for troop and supply movements.  H-13s for reconnaissance and the French Alouette provided the firepower, supplemented by a rocket-equipped H-21.  The Alouette is the counterpart of the HU1-A which may soon join the ranks of the Army Combat Reconnaissance Company.

Higher Altitudes Favored

One significant point brought out by Pierpoint is the fact that pilots discarded contour flying in favor of higher altitudes.  This was done because ground fire posed little problem and the enemy lacked tracking devices such as radar.

The effort exerted by approximately 100 machines can be appreciated in the light of some 45,000 hours of flight time over desert and mountainous terrain.  This flight time represents operational support missions of both a tactical and logistical nature.  Pierpoint said that organic aviation pays off, but that it works more effectively when the troops are experienced in helicopter transport.

In his opinion, an efficient operation requires that the soldiers must:

Be experienced, so they can be landed under fire and be ready to kill upon debarking.

Unload in a hurry, because the ‘copter is most vulnerable on the ground and usually lands the troops close to the enemy to expedite the engagement.

Seek cover rapidly out of the way of other ‘copters landing troops in single file.

Set up firepower as soon as possible to suppress the enemy.

Establish their role before the landing, because orders are difficult to receive and give due to the noise.

Inexperienced soldiers, Pierpoint said, either freeze or bunch up and act as if they are in a trance.

These facts were brought out when Pierpoint addressed a meeting of the CENTER and COMBINED TEST ACTIVITIVES CHAPTER of AAAA here.  He was introduced by Lieutenant Colonel John E. Oswalt, head of the Combat Development Office.

Major General Thomas F. Van Natia, assistant chief of staff, G-2, for the European Command, who was visiting the Army Aviation Center, was a guest at the meeting.

Photos of Easterbrook and Pierpoint, top right, page 14, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 28, 1960.

Source:  Pages 13 and 14, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 28, 1960.

* * * * *

“Have a Seat,” the Man Said

Chief Warrant Officer Marvin V. Wingrove, assigned to the U.S. Army Transportation Material Command, St. Louis, recently returned to St. Louis from his 23,600 mile ferry flight as co-pilot for the famed Dr. Thomas Doolittle aircraft.

One incident he will always remember took place in one of the clubs in Lisbon, Portugal while waiting for favorable weather conditions.  Wingrove stood by and watched a chess game being played by two members of the club.

Wingrove, an avid chess player, accepted an invitation to play the winner.  He won all three games and after each win the spectators applauded his success.  He was about to call it quits after hours of playing when a man stepped up from the audience and indicated he would he would like to “take on” Wingrove.  The game resulted in Wingrove’s first defeat of the evening.

Later, Wingrove found out to his surprise that the first player was the chess champ of the club and his second challenger was Joaquin Duran, Portuguese National Chess Champion.

Source:  Page 59, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 28, 1960.

* * * * *

Bell’s Answer:  “Go By Air”

Bell Helicopter’s air scooter has turned out to be one of the most widely publicized ground effect machines yet devised.

Capturing the fancy of editors throughout the nation, the 12 hp, 2-cycle motor scooter has been pictured in countless newspapers and magazines during January.

Let’s go a bit beyond the normal three-line caption and cover the mechanical details as presented by Bell.  The air scooter, as verified by the rider, Colonel Robert R. Williams, of O.C.R.D., is a “weight shifter,” a vehicle that can be turned by the rider by shifting his weight, or moved forward or backward by leaning in those directions.

Built of fiberglass and aluminum, the 160 pound air scooter used a gasoline and oil mixture for fuel to turn 30-inch diameter fans, the resulting air blast lifting the vehicle about two-and-a-half inches off the ground.

No competition for George Romney, the vehicle only does 20 miles-per-gallon.  However, it can travel up to 25 mph over roads, ice, snow and water, the last named “road” guaranteed to silence the normally vociferous Rambler owners.

Whether in the garage of under a camouflage net, the Bell air scooter is no space hog, measuring 30 inches high, 55 inches wide and 85 inches long.

As late as February 6^th, the rider reported that the photo did not make any of the Washington, D.C newspapers for which he (pictured hatless) is thankful.

Photo, bottom left, page 70, Army Aviation, February 28, 1960 issue.

Source:  Page 70, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 28, 1960.

* * * * *

Test and Equipment:  “Deadly!”

By Major Dorothy L. Johnson

A deadly “spider” spinning out a strand of wire web, will soon be services tested by the U.S. Army Aviation Board, Fort Rucker, Alabama.

The “spider,” in reality one of rocketry’s most effective developments, is the French-made SS-11 anti-tank guided missile system.  The testing planned by the Board will evaluate the SS-11 as carried by and launched from the HU-1 Iroquois helicopter.  The Infantry Board plans similar service tests—using the Jeep and ground launchers as vehicles—and the Armored Board will do their own testing from tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Simply put the principle involved is a missile, powered by solid propellant, which after being fired still remains under guided, manual control.  A flare in the tail aids in visual tracking.

The missiles are directed to their targets by means of the trailing wires—which electrically transmit the gunner’s commands.  A target that is trying to evade, or hide, can therefore be pursued.  The SS-11 is capable of defeating any armored vehicles known today, and can destroy tanks while remaining out of effective range of the tanks’ own weapons.

An extraordinarily high degree of accuracy is another reason for the Army’s great interest in the SS-11.

The SS-11 is a further development of the SS-10 missile, both produced by the Chatillon factory of Nord Aviation.  The SS-10 saw action against Egyptian armor during the Suez campaign.  Used by Israeli forces, the SS-10 has been purchased by many additional free world  nations, including the United States.

Weighing sixty-three pounds and measuring forty-six inches long, the SS-11 missile has been standardized for use on Sud Aviation’s Alouette helicopters as well as on the French Air Force’s Dassault Flament and the French Navy’s Vought AU-1 Corsair.

The three major components of the SS-11 consist of the motor section, which contains two solid-propellant sustainer rockets and the jet deviation control system; and mid-body section, which includes the trailing wire device, the power-driven gyro, the simple control system, and the short fins.  The last component is the warhead.

The controlling of the missile after launching is easily accomplished by the gunner, and the entire design has been kept as simple as possible by Nord Aviation.  It has been built with a view to possible rough handling during use in a combat area.  The production costs are relatively low, being about $1,000 per round.  The missile has a range of slightly over two miles, and the controlling wires disconnect upon impact.

The project officer selected for the SS-11 service test of the helicopter-mounted system is Captain Tony Carroll, of the U.S. Army Aviation Board.

Photo, lower left, page 75, Army Aviation, February 28, 1960 issue.

Source:  Page 75, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 28, 1960.

* * * * *

Heavy Lift

Demonstrating its ability to carry more than 3,000 pounds of parts to another ship hypothetically damaged by enemy fire, an Army HU-1A Iroquois airlifts a tail boom assembly, two main rotor blades, and a pair of mechanics and tools as its cabin load, and a 1,245 pound sling load consisting of a replacement turbine engine and container.

Photo, top right, page 86, Army Aviation, February 28, 1960 issue.

Source:  Page 86, Army Aviation, Vol. 8, No. 2, February 28, 1960.

A U.S. Air Force Airman assigned to the 274th Air Support Operations Squadron, 107th Attack Wing, New York Air National Guard, rappels from a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from 1st Battalion, 150th Aviation Regiment, New Jersey Army National Guard, at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, Sept. 10, 2026. The training provided Airmen an opportunity to practice rappelling techniques while strengthening interoperability between Air and Army National Guard units. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Alexander Rector)

U.S. Army Aviation Battalion Japan Soldiers deliver two boxes of supplies to local residents on Mikurajima, Japan, during the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Disaster Drill, Oct. 15, 2026. The mission demonstrated the Soldiers’ commitment to supporting disaster response efforts alongside Japanese partners. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jonathon Downs)

Representatives from Redstone Arsenal listen as 101st Combat Aviation Brigade pilots provide feedback on the Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System (AIRUS) from the cockpit of an AH-64 Apache helicopter at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Oct. 5, 2026. 101st CAB pilots tested the system’s airworthiness Oct. 5-7 as a potential solution to tactical dehydration. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Andrew Lightsey IV)

U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 159th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, conducted a data link integration exercise and combined arms live-fire exercise with Soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment during the Skyfall proof-of-concept series at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Oct. 6, 2026. The training integrated ground-to-air target handover via Link 16, enabling air defense and aviation forces to rapidly detect, identify, track and engage enemy small unmanned aerial systems. The exercise validated a shared kill chain between ground and air assets, strengthening interoperability and advancing tactics, techniques and procedures that increase the joint force’s ability to counter emerging UAS threats in large-scale combat operations. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Scyrrus Corregidor)

Alaska Army National Guard HH-60M Black Hawk MEDEVAC aviators assigned to Golf Company, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, take off after completing a capabilities demonstration for students at Robert Service High School in Anchorage, Alaska, Sept. 29, 2026. The Dustoff aviators collaborated with the AKARNG’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion and Robert Service High School to showcase Guard job opportunities and answer any questions for the students in attendance. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Alejandro Pena)