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    Happy Hooligans’ last plane departs

    Happy Hooligans' last plane departs

    Photo By David Lipp | U.S. Air Force C-21 pilots, Col. Brad Derrig, the 119th Wing vice commander, and Col....... read more read more

    FARGO, ND, UNITED STATES

    08.27.2013

    Courtesy Story

    North Dakota National Guard Public Affairs

    FARGO, N.D. — The North Dakota Air National Guard’s last C-21 aircraft has left the base. The plane, the last of eight that the unit known as the Happy Hooligans has been maintaining and flying since 2007, took off just after 11:30 a.m. today following a press conference that included recollections from throughout 66 years of flying history.

    The Air National Guard began serving in North Dakota in January 1947, and its first aircraft — the P-51 Mustang — flew into Fargo the following month. In the decades that followed, the airmen flew and maintained aircraft and racked up numerous national and international awards that their peers would never achieve.

    “We stand here today at the end of an era and the beginning of a new life for the Air National Guard,” Retired Maj. Gen. Alexander Macdonald told the audience.

    He went on to share recollections and list the many high points from throughout history.

    “Whenever the goal was set, and then reached, the men and women of the organization set loftier ones, and time and time again these goals were achieved,” he said. “First air-to-air rocket firing over Lake Superior. The Hughes Trophy — the first time ever won by a Guard unit. The same year, the Daedalion Maintenance Trophy. This was also the first ever for a Guard unit, and the first time those two major awards have ever been held by the same unit during the same year. This was followed by a second Hughes Trophy in 1994. We had the first deployed alert to Seymour Johnson (Air Force Base in North Carolina). We were the first to go on nuclear alert. The first to reach 100 percent strength. The first deployment overseas for an active NATO air-defense mission. The first air defense aerial refueling, and the list of awards and firsts goes on and on. The most accident-free flying hours of any unit in the entire Air Force flying fighters.”

    When the fighter mission ended in 2007, the Hooligans transitioned to the C-21A Learjet, which was intended to serve as a “bridge” mission to keep pilots and maintainers active and relevant until the anticipated new flying mission of the C-27J Spartan arrived. The final decision to divest that mission from the U.S. Air Force was made earlier this year, prompting the North Dakota Air National Guard to begin a transition to a mission that does not include aircraft. Many details of that new intelligence group mission are still uncertain. In the meantime, North Dakota is now the only state in the nation without an Air National Guard manned flying mission, although efforts continue to pursue a new mission that includes aircraft.

    “USA Today once called the Happy Hooligans the ‘godfathers of air superiority,’ noting that they are the ‘best air-to-air combat fighters in the world,’” Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, North Dakota adjutant general, said. “I’d rather say that, quite simply, they’re the best in the world. It’s not about the mission; it’s not about the aircraft; it’s about the people behind the mission. That’s what has made the Hooligans the very best for all of these years, and what will continue to make them the best for years to come.”

    As the press conference ended, Col. Kent Olson, 119th Wing commander, and Col. Brad Derrig, 119th Wing vice commander, along with Lt. Col. Jerrad Krapp, 177th Airlift Squadron commander, flew the last C-21A, with tail number 84-0064, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Tomorrow, it will become the first C-21 added to the collection at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force there.

    The Happy Hooligans experienced success with 84-0064, along with the other C-21s, during the past six-and-a-half years. Olson spoke of that achievement and the hard work that went into creating such a success.

    When the C-21s arrived in Fargo in January 2007, “they were about two dozen years old and had just been saved from a final trip to the boneyard,” Olson told the audience. “… Let’s think about that for the moment: Eight aircraft that the Air Force was going to send to the boneyard, they sent to us. So we received them, and what did we do? We did what our maintenance group does the best: They got the jets in such good condition that they are still, by the way, the best maintained C-21s in the Air Force inventory.”

    Prior to receiving the C-21s, which were manufactured in 1983, only contracted civilian maintenance personnel had worked on the planes. The North Dakota Guardsmen worked to develop a maintenance program that incorporated FAA guidance with Air Force procedures and training. That program was put to the test during an overseas mission that brought the C-21s to Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti and other areas. Despite the intense heat and dust, the C-21’s never missed a takeoff.

    Later that year, the 177th Airlift Squadron earned the title of JOSAC (Joint Operational Support Airlift Center) Squadron of the Year.

    During the past two years, the Hooligans flew more JOSAC missions than any other unit. The number of missions and hours flown for JOSAC in the C-21 actually exceeds three active-duty Air Force bases combined.

    With today’s departure of the last aircraft, the North Dakota Air National Guard has achieved more than 175,340 Class A mishap-free flying hours. More than 17,000 of those hours were in a C-21.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.27.2013
    Date Posted: 08.27.2013 16:31
    Story ID: 112689
    Location: FARGO, ND, US

    Web Views: 120
    Downloads: 0

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