Air National Guard and Reserve units rarely get brand new aircraft. Most of the time, aircraft assigned to those unist are coming from an Active Duty units in the USAF who are upgrading or converting to a new airframe and/or type. On rare occasions, Air National Guards units have been assigned brand new aircraft from the factory. Among the few lucky ones are the 169th FW/SC ANG which received F-16CJ from Lockheed Martin in 1994, the 143rd AW/RI ANG and the 175th Wing/MD ANG with Lockheed C-130J, the 160th AW/WWANG with C-130H. Both the 103rd and 104th Fighter Wing received their A-10A fresh from the factory in 1978.
A good example to look at is the Vermont Air National Guard which has been flying many types since 1947. That unit never received any brand new aircraft and all had been transferred from Active Duty (AD) units. It is nearly impossible to trace the origins of every airframe assigned to the VT ANG and this is not the goal here. The VT ANG F-102s came from AD units with many thousands of hours on them and the Green Mountain Boys performed their mission very well with a 'second hand' plane. When the 158th became a Defense Systems Evaluation Group in June 1974 and was assigned the EB-57 Canberra, they sent their F-102s for retirement to AMARC. In 1980, the 158th began a transition to the F-4D and left the Air Defense community to become part of Tactical Air Command. The last EB-57 was retired to AMARC on 10 December 1981. This particular aircraft, 52-1906, was later put on display row at AMARC. Today, five aircraft remain in AMARC. The 158th TFG converted to the F-16A in March 1986 when it received its first 'Fighting Falcon'. Most of the VT ANG F-4s were sent to serve with the Michigan ANG at the time. Again, the F-16s assigned to the 158th came from other units with many hundreds of hours on them. These F-16s were modified to ADF standards in 1990 for Air Defense missions. It is interesting to note that during the modifications were taking place, the first production F-16A 78-001 was on loan to the Green Mountain Boys. In February 1994, the unit officially said goodbye to the F-16ADF and began transition to Block 25 F-16s. The Vermont ANG retired its ADF F-16s to AMARC in 1994. The first one, 81-0767, was flown to AMARC on February 18, 1994, while the last one, 81-0749, came in on May 6, 1994. The VT ANG is presently replacing its Block 25 for Block 30 and has sent its first F-16C, 84-1212 to AMARG in September 2007.
When a type of aircraft has reached or is near the end of its operational life in an Air National Guard unit, this particular type will be replaced and the unit will convert to a new aircraft and sometimes a new mission as well. For other reasons, a unit may convert to a new type and will transfer its previous aircraft to other units flying the same type. The latest unit to send their aircraft to AMARC is the 119th Fighter Wing from the North Dakota ANG. Following BRAC 2005, that unit is converting to C-21A and Predator UAVs. On January 16, 2007, Colonel Becklund, 119th FW commander, led the unit's last four ship to AMARC for retirement. The 119th Fighter Wing was the last operational ANG unit to fly Block 15 F-16ADF. The 179th Fighter Squadron from the Minnesota Air National Guard retired its F-16 ADF to AMARC in the summer of 2003 and received F-16C as replacement. Recently, many early Block F-16s from the 162nd Fighter Wing of the Arizona ANG have been retired as well. Many other ANG F-16 tails can be seen at AMARC as shown in the photos on this page. Until September 2007,all F-16s retired to AMARC were A, B and ADF versions. Now, F-16C Block 25 are beginning to be retired as well. Along with the Vermont ANG, the 177th Fighter Wing based at Atlantic City, NJ, has begun to send its Block 25s to the boneyard in 2007. Soon will appear the F-16s from the 147th FW at Ellington ANGB, Texas, which is converting to UAV in 2008.
During 2006, the 102nd Fighter Wing, MA ANG started to receive F-15C from Kadena, Japan and began sending its F-15A to AMARC where they rest next to Missouri, Louisiana, Florida and Hawaii ANG Eagles. Among them was aircraft 77-0102 which was one of the first responder to 9/11. That particular aircraft has been put aside for eventual display in a museum. The 102nd FW transferred its aircraft to the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2007.
Currently, four A-10s from the 104th FW/MA ANG are in storage since 1993. The 104th FW has converted to F-15C in 2007 while most of its A-10s were transferred to other units. Both the Mississippi and Tennessee ANG have retired their C-141C starting in January 2003 and converted to C-5A Galaxy. The 164th AW/TN ANG retired its last Starlifter, 66-0157, on May 13, 2004. Since May 2004, the 105th Airlift Wing/NY ANG has sent five of its C-5A Galaxy to retirement next to a few others from the 433rd and 439th AW/AFRC. The latest type to be retired in the USAF is the KC-135E which is being replaced by KC-135R in ANG units.
An overall look at AMARG and what happens to an aircraft when it's retired from service.
Click on the thumbnails to view a larger photo. All photos by author. |
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