Westover Mission & Vision Priorities

CHICOPEE, MA, UNITED STATES

09.01.2023

Story by W.C. Pope 

439th Airlift Wing

Welcome to Westover Air Reserve Base – home of the Air Force Reserve Command’s 439th Airlift Wing.
Mission Vision And Priorities Slide
The Patriot Wing leverages innovative and empowered Citizen Airmen to provide rapid global mobility, and support full spectrum combat and humanitarian operations in any environment.
Wing Organization Chart Slide
Like any stand-alone Reserve unit, the 439th Airlift Wing is organized into four main functional areas. The Operations Group is focused on flying the C-5M Super Galaxy, while the Maintenance Group repairs and maintains the aircraft. The Mission Support Group – the largest of the three – supports all aspects of the Wing, and we have three stand-alone medical units. Westover’s Air Force population is nearly twenty-four hundred uniformed and civilian members, as well as contractors. The largest demographic is our traditional reservists, of which there are over fifteen hundred.
Base History Slide
Created in 1940 from former farmlands, Westover was an essential defense, transportation, and aircrew training and departure point during World War Two. A significant historical fact is the very first airborne combat engineers were organized and trained at Westover during the war. After the Air Force became a separate service in 1947, the base was the home of a young lieutenant named Gail Halvorsen, who gained fame as the Candy Bomber during the Berlin Airlift in 1948. Also assigned to the base at this same time was Grace Peterson, who later became the first woman to be promoted to chief master sergeant – the highest enlisted rank possible - in the entire Air Force. During the Cuban Missile Crises in 1962, reconnaissance photos of Soviet buildings, troops and launchers were developed at Westover’s photo lab. During this period, the base was part of Strategic Air Command, and home of the Eighth Air Force. Transitioning to Reserve status in 1974, the Wing returned to its transport roots by operating first the C-123 Provider and then the C-130 Hercules aircraft. The first C-5A Galaxy arrived in 1987. Today the Patriot Wing flies the C-5M Super Galaxy.
Rapid Global Mobility Slide
Our KEY mission is to provide rapid global mobility. The C-5M Super Galaxy is the largest strategic transport in the U.S. Air Force; the current version is expected to provide service until at least 2040. Westover’s C-5M’s support Air Mobility Command and Air Force Reserve taskings domestically and overseas. In fact, the 439th Airlift Wing has supported every major military and humanitarian event worldwide since 1990.
Full Spectrum Operations In Any Environment Slide
In addition to strategic airlift, Westover also supports full spectrum operations in any environment. Our aeromedical evacuation squadron Citizen Airmen are mission capable of using any transport aircraft in the Air Force, and our Contingency Response Flight has successfully conducted multiple training and real-world mobile command-and-control events. Our primary runway is over eleven thousand, five hundred feet long, and the base itself is the closest on the East Coast to our European allies. Westover is also an incident staging base for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for regional humanitarian relief operations.
Readiness Training Slide
A center piece of Westover’s readiness training is an area nick-named “Dogpatch”. Created during the early 1980’s as a series of rough built huts and an obstacle course, the area has grown into a robust village of permanent, electrical supplied buildings, with ready access to an aircraft parking area. In addition, Reserve Marines constructed a secure weapons storage facility, along with a tactical training road. The entire district is used by other Reserve units for deployment readiness training, as well by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for post-blast forensics training.
Other Things to Note Slide
Westover is also home to twenty-seven mission partners, including three U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and four U.S. Army Reserve units, an active-duty military entrance processing station that covers a five-state area, and the western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut location of the New England USO. Annually Westover hosts over forty local and regional law enforcement K-9 teams for a week of certification training. And twice a year the Hamden County Sheriff’s Department conducts correctional officer basic training on base.
Conclusion Slide
One of the two largest stand-alone bases in the entire Air Force Reserve Command, the men and women of the Patriot Wing stand on the shoulders of giants. We are Ready Now to answer our nation’s call and are transforming for the future. Again, welcome to Westover, and on behalf of the Wing Commander, we hope you enjoy your stay.

• Date Taken: 09.01.2023
• Date Posted: 09.15.2023 11:29
• Story ID: 453517
• Location: CHICOPEE, MA, US