See: Schenectady County Airport

Schenectady County Airport

Schenectady County Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located three miles north of the city of Schenectady in Schenectady County, New York, USA....

 for civil airport information

Stratton Air National Guard Base has hosted the New York Air National Guard

New York Air National Guard

The New York Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of New York. It is, along with the New York Army National Guard, an element of the New York National Guard. It is considered a part of the United States Air Force, as well as its state mission...

 109th Airlift Wing

109th Airlift Wing

The United States Air Force's 109th Airlift Wing is an Air Mobility Command gained tactical airlift unit of the New York Air National Guard. The unit is located at Stratton ANGB/Schenectady County Airport, New York and operates both conventional C-130 Hercules aircraft and specially modified...

 (in various designations) since 1949. The base is named after conservative Democratic US Representative Sam Stratton, who represented the Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

 area.

Overview

Stratton ANGB hosts the NY ANG 109th Airlift Wing. The wing is uniqe as it is the only USAF unit equippped with 10 ski-equipped 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, and provides the nation's only air cargo lift capability to polar destinations. Since 1971, the 109th has played an important role in support of the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

's research expeditions at both the North and South Poles.

Food, fuel and other equipment are delivered as far North as Thule Air Base

Thule Air Base

Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located north of the Arctic Circle and from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland. It is approximately east of the North Magnetic Pole.-Overview:Thule Air Base is the...

, Greenland by normal air transport. From there, these supplies are flown by the LC-130H of the 109th. In addition to the polar missions, the 109th AW supports the airlift responsibilities in support of 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....

 and uses its aircraft as directed by AMC. BRAC 2005 transferred four non ski-equipped C-130H aircraft to Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas.

The base has 39 buildings, amounting to approximately 353000 square feet (32,794.8 m²) and occupies 122.21 acre (0.4945667606 km²) of land on two holdings leased from Schenectady County. Most of the existing facilities are on the larger 105 acre (0.4249203 km²) main parcel while a Small Arms Firing Range and Rapid Runway Repair training facility are on the smaller south parcel. There are 526 full time personnel on base with a once a month drill weekend surge to 1,268 personnel.

History

Following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the New York Air National Guard was established at Schenectady Airport as the 139th Fighter Squadron and received Federal recognition on 18 November 1948. The 139th FS was a re-designation of the World War II 303d Fighter Squadron, which was a operational training unit for III Fighter Command

III Fighter Command

The III Fighter Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at MacDill Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 8 April 1946.-Lineage:...

 in Florida during the war. The 139th's first assigned aircraft was the Republic F-47D Thunderbolt.

In 1950, the squadron moved across the runway to its present location on the north side of the airport and received F-51H Mustangs. The 139th was one of 17 squadrons not activated during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. In 1952, the 139th was assigned to Air Defense Command as a Fighter Interceptor Squadron. After the runway at Schenectady was lengthened to 7000 feet (2,133.6 m), the squadron received its first jets in the form of the Lockheed F-94B Starfire in 1954. Starfire operations continued until 1957 when the North American F-86H Sabre began arriving. Receipt of the Sabre saw the squadron and group loose their Fighter Interceptor prefixes and gain that of Tactical Fighter.

In 1960, the unit joined 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...

 as the 139th Air Transport Squadron. The mission of worldwide transport was assigned along with the Boeing C-97A Stratofreighter, the first four-engined transport to be used by the Guard. The 139th ATS was activated for the Berlin Crisis in October 1961, augmenting MATS airlift by flying worldwide missions. The unit returned to State control on 31 August 1962.

On 1 January 1966, the Military Air Transport Service was reorganized and renamed 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...

. Following this reorganization, the 139th was redesignated a Military Airlift Squadron and as such, made deployments worldwide during the Vietnam war

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. The unit converted to the Lockheed C-130A in early 1971, and now under 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...

, was designated the 139th Tactical Airlift Squadron.

The 109th TAG converted to C-130D and D-6s models in the summer of 1975, assuming responsibilities for the Volant Distant Early Warning Line

Distant Early Warning Line

The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland...

 resupply mission on the Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

ice cap. Ten years later, the unit converted to the LC-130H and has been flying the Hercules to the north and south pole and everywhere in between since in support of USAF and NSF missions in the polar regions.