WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. – It’s not uncommon to see much smaller cargo planes than the seemingly elephant-sized C-5Ms circling the flight pattern from around the base. Manned with four propellers, the old-style birds fly low, dropping cargo at Westover as practice for both the aircrews and the air transportation specialists who recover the pallets dropped from the sky.
A Connecticut aircrew piloting a C-130 Hercules from Bradley Air National Guard Base, East Granby, practiced touch-and-go landings July 11 on the runway. Following their landing, the C-130 taxied over to the Dogpatch, where the aircrew practiced doing combat-style offloads of two cargo pallets.
This was the first of many times Bradley’s Airmen will be practicing the combat offloads here. In fact, Bradley Airmen will be using Westover as a practice station much more frequently, doing air drops both during the day and at night, as well as beginning to perform combat-style offloads several times a week.
After dropping cargo pallets in-flight or offloading them from the runway, Bradley’s team of air transportation specialists recover the cargo. Directed by Senior Airman Ke Sherman, 103rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Senior Airman Shannon Carney, 103rd LRS, operated a forklift borrowed from Westover’s aerial port to lift the cargo and load it onto the back of a flatbed truck to be driven back to Bradley.
Their job was finished quickly and efficiently as the C-130 taxied away and prepared for takeoff.
This practice is an excellent example of joint operations and cooperation between Westover and Bradley, who are working together to accomplish the mission of the Total Force.