71st Flying Training Wing
The 71st Flying Training Wing (71 FTW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Education and Training Command Nineteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma where it also is the host unit.
The mission of the Wing is threefold: Produce pilots for U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and allied nations as directed. Second, prepare forces to support mobility taskings and deploy when directed. Third, provide support to, and execute mission directives. The 71 FTW is the only Air Force unit to conduct joint specialized undergraduate pilot training for officers of the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and the air forces of several allied countries.
The unit has a long and decorated history. The group's World War II predecessor unit, the 71st Reconnaissance Group operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater flying reconnaissance missions. It was awarded the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for its role in the liberation of the Philippines during 1944-1945. During the Cold War, the 71st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (Fighter) was a part of Strategic Air Command. The wing performed strategic reconnaissance and also tested a technique for launching small RBF-84 aircraft from GRB-36 bombers to extend the range of photographic reconnaissance and fighter escort. The testing ended in 1956, but the wing continued strategic reconnaissance until inactivated on 1 July 1957.
Famous quotes containing the words flying, training and/or wing:
“The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead—
There were no birds to fly.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“They’ll bust you in the lobby. You look like a training poster for the narc squad.”
—John Guare (b. 1938)
“If a liberal policy towards the late Rebels is adopted, the ultra Republicans are opposed to it; if the colored people are honored, the extremists of the other wing cry out against it. I suspect I am right in both cases.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)