419th Fighter Wing hangar transferred in best interest of Team Hill

  • Published
  • By Kari Tilton
  • 419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, UT --  The most well-known and historic 419th Fighter Wing building recently changed hands to accommodate a growing Ogden Air Logistics Center workload.

The landmark hangar, which was built by Air Force Reserve Command in 1959 at a cost of $900,000 is now being used by ALC 309th Maintenance Wing personnel to complete A-10 aircraft avionics upgrades known as Precision Engagement.

Base senior leaders and facilities board members met to decide how they could make room for the high-priority workload and determined the 419th hangar was the only option.

According to the ALC, the new PE workload will bring in nearly $240 million over the next five years and will employ several hundred people. The ALC also said the Air Force was prepared to send the PE workload elsewhere if appropriate facilities couldn't be found on the base.

"We all have a vested interest in each and every mission carried out here on Hill AFB," said Col. Gary Batinich, 419th FW commander. "We want to do what's best for Team Hill and for the Air Force."

Several of the 419th maintenance operations have moved to buildings in the 388th Fighter Wing area. Various 419th administrative personnel, who are housed upstairs in the hangar, will remain in place for the time being while the 388th FW and 75th Air Base Wing work to identify areas that can be consolidated to make room for the affected reserve wing personnel.

F-16s belonging to the 419th FW will remain parked on the current 419th FW ramp, just east of the hangar, for the next several months. The aircraft will be moved to 388th FW facilities later this year in preparation for winter weather conditions.

Reserve personnel who work out of the hangar were planning to move over to the 388th FW in about a year as part of the Total Force Integration initiative, which calls for both fighter wings to share F-16 aircraft.

Now, these personnel are working a plan to follow the aircraft later this fall.

The base's fighter wings are currently in Phase 2 of a three-part association plan, which will culminate in the fall of 2007 when 419th FW aircraft are transferred to other Air Reserve Component units. At this time, 419th FW pilots will fly 388th FW aircraft exclusively.

The fighter wings will integrate under the Air Force's classic associate model, which calls for each to maintain separate organization and command structures, but to work side by side on a daily basis.

Reserve hangar has rich history

The 419th Fighter Wing hangar has served as a backdrop to reserve deployments, homecomings, memorial services, commander's calls, changes of command ceremonies, holiday parties and even a wedding.

The hangar was built in 1959 for the 733d Troop Carrier Squadron and its aircraft, the C-119 Flying Boxcar. One of the C-119s was christened the "State of Utah" in June 1963 when Continental Air Command (precursor of Air Force Reserve Command) Troop Carrier Squadrons were reorganized and the reserve unit became the 945th Troop Carrier Group.

In 1967, the hangar received a $465,000 remodel in anticipation of the group's new aircraft, the C-124 Globemaster II, affectionately know as "Old Shaky."

In 1973, the group was renamed the 508th Tactical Fighter Group and changed aircraft to the F-105B Thunderchief. After being redesignated as the 419th Tactical Fighter Wing in 1984, the hangar hosted a "Thud Out" which retired the last F-105 in the Air Force inventory on 3 June 1983. Flying one of the F-105s was retired Colonel Leo K. Thorsness, a Medal of Honor recipient and former prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

The wing then received the F-16 Fighting Falcon in January 1984, becoming the first Air Force Reserve wing to fly the newest state-of-the-art aircraft. The wing was renamed the 419th Fighter Wing in 1991.

(Information compiled by Donna Magana, 419 Fighter Wing command staff)