Berry Field Air National Guard Base - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

See: Nashville International Airport
Nashville International Airport
Nashville International Airport is a joint civil-military airport in southeastern Nashville, Tennessee. The IATA Airport Code BNA is derived from the early name of the facility—Berry Field, NAshville. Berry Field was the name of the airport until 1988, when the name was changed to reflect...

for civil airport information

Berry Field Air National Guard Base has hosted the Tennessee Air National Guard

Tennessee Air National Guard

The Tennessee Air National Guard is the independent air arm of the Tennessee National Guard. Along with the Tennessee Army National Guard, it comprises the National Guard of the U.S...

118th Airlift Wing

The United States Air Force's 118th Airlift Wing is a unit of the Tennessee Air National Guard located at Berry Field Air National Guard Base at Nashville International Airport, Tennessee. As an Air National Guard organization, the wing is operationally gained by the Air Education and Training...

(in various designations) since 1937.

Overview

Berry Field ANGB is home to Headquarters, Tennessee Air National Guard

Tennessee Air National Guard

The Tennessee Air National Guard is the independent air arm of the Tennessee National Guard. Along with the Tennessee Army National Guard, it comprises the National Guard of the U.S...

and the 118th Airlift Wing

118th Airlift Wing

(118 AW), the latter serving as host wing for the installation. Berry Field and the 118 AW currently operate the C-130 International Training Center, an AETC activity in support of DoD Foreign Military Sales (FMS) of the C-130, training up to 150 international military C-130E and C-130H flight crew and maintenance students annually.

C-130 International Training Center

In October 2007, it was announced that as an amendment to the BRAC 2005 decision, the 118 AW would continue to retain a flying mission, transitioning from an Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command is a Major Command of the U.S. Air Force. AMC is headquartered at Scott AFB, Illinois, east of St. Louis....

(AMC)-gained unit to that of a training organization operationally gained by the Air Education and Training Command

Air Education and Training Command

Air Education and Training Command was established July 1, 1993, with the realignment of Air Training Command and Air University. It is one of the U.S. Air Force's ten major commands and reports to Headquarters, United States Air Force....

(AETC). As the C-130 International Training Center, the 118 AW assumed a new role as a C-130 Formal Training Unit (FTU) in support of DoD Foreign Military Sales (FMS), training up to 150 international military C-130E and C-130H flight crew and maintenance students annually. Although the 118 AW's C-130H2 aircraft were transferred to other Air National Guard

Air National Guard

The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...

airlift wings, the 118 AW did gain six WC-130H aircraft that had been retired from weather reconnaissance duties with the Air Force Reserve Command

Air Force Reserve Command

The Air Force Reserve Command is a major command of the U.S. Air Force with its headquarters at Robins AFB, Georgia.It stood up as a major command of the Air Force on 17 February 1997....

's 403d Wing

403d Wing

403d Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command. It is located at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, and employs a military manning authorization of more than 1,400 reservists, including some 250 full-time air reserve technicians.403d Wing performs...

at Keesler AFB, Mississippi. The first class of international C-130 students trained by the 118 AW graduated in October 2008.

History

The Air National Guard

Air National Guard

presence at BNA dates back to 1937, when the 105th Observation Squadron, a U.S. Army Air Corps-gained element of the Tennessee National Guard initially took up residence at the airport. With the advent of World War II, the squadron was called into active Federal service as a U.S. Army Air Forces unit and transitioned to a bombardment mission flying the B-25 Mitchell

B-25 Mitchell

The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...

medium bomber in the Pacific theater. At war's end and into the immediate postwar period, the unit transitioned to a fighter mission flying the P-47 Thunderbolt

P-47 Thunderbolt

Republic Aviation's P-47 Thunderbolt, also known as the "Jug", was the largest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single reciprocating engine. It was heavily armed with eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully loaded, the P-47 weighed up to...

. With the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service in 1947, the unit was redesignated the 118th Fighter Group. Subsequent redesignations occurred in 1950 as the 118th Composite Wing and in 1953 as the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, during which time the unit operated the F-51 Mustang, RF-80 Shooting Star and RF-84 Thunderflash while operationally gained by the Tactical Air Command

Tactical Air Command

Tactical Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 being headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia...

(TAC).

In 1961, the unit transitioned to an airlift mission, first operating C-97 Stratofreighter

C-97 Stratofreighter

The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long range heavy military cargo aircraft based on the B-29 bomber. Design work began in 1942, with the prototype's first flight being on 9 November 1944, and the first production aircraft entered service in 1947. Between 1947 and 1958, 888 C-97s in several...

, followed by C-124 Globemaster II

C-124 Globemaster II

The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shakey", was a heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California....

and finally C-130 Hercules

C-130 Hercules

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...

aircraft under the cognizance of the Military Air Transport Service

Military Air Transport Service

The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...

(MATS), Military Airlift Command

Military Airlift Command

The Military Airlift Command is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command of the USAF which was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It was constituted on 1 January 1966 and active until the end of the Cold War, when the Air Force table of organization was revised...

(MAC) and Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command is a Major Command of the U.S. Air Force. AMC is headquartered at Scott AFB, Illinois, east of St. Louis....

(AMC), with combat service in Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Approximately 1,500 personnel are assigned to both HQ, Tennessee Air Hational Guard and to the 118 AW at Berry ANGB. Approximately 400 are full-time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) and Air Reserve Technician (ART) personnel, augmented by approximately 1100 traditional part-time air guardsmen. Approximately 100 additional foreign military personnel are also temporarily assigned to the 118 AW at any one time for training in the C-130E or C-130H aircraft.

Overview

C-130 International Training Center

History

See also