The last of his breed

  • Published
  • By TSgt. Timm Huffman
  • 439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  In 1981, Lt. Col. Gary Cooke, longtime 337th Airlift Squadron C-5 pilot, called his local Air Force recruiter and asked what he needed to do to become a C-5 pilot. The next semester, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Over the next 32 years, Lt. Col. Cooke dedicated his career to the Air Force's largest airframe and the men and women who support it. He retired June 1, after 28 years of service, 27 of which were spent flying the massive airlifter.

"Nothing beats being up there, flying an airplane," he said.

He's a third-generation pilot; his grandfather trained pilots to fly the famous Burma-India "hump" during World War II and his father instilled in him a love for aviation. Lt. Col. Cooke created his own legacy during his decades in the Air Force. His career is lined with firsts, records and assorted amazing stories.

In 1985, he was selected as one of four lieutenants for a new program that put the junior officers directly into a C-5 out of flight school. He was stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Del., and quickly made a name for himself as a co-pilot by doing his job well. This led to some exciting assignments developing C-5 air-drop procedures and flying for special operators and presidential airlift support.

The work he did testing the C-5's capabilities and developing air-drop procedures led to him being a part of the 1989 Dover Rodeo aircrew that still holds the record for the most weight air-dropped at once: 194,093 pounds. The colonel said the  package consisted of four Sheridan tanksand 73 combat troops.

Working with the special operators also afforded him some exciting opportunities, including the distinction of being the co-pilot on the first-ever blacked-out C-5 landing.

"Working with these special operations teams was great because we all knew our job and we knew we had to get it done. You didn't have to tell anyone to do their jobs. We all just did it."

These experiences helped Lt. Col. Cooke develop his philosophy of doing things safely, having a good time and "not worrying about the small stuff."

During the Gulf War in 1991, Lt. Col. Cooke flew supporting missions as part of a crew pool and ended upflying with a crew from Westover.

It ended up being a job interview of sorts and when they all returned from overseas, he said they hired him.

From then on, he flew as a member of the 337th. During his time at Westover, he participated in many unique and demanding missions, including being the third C-5 into Somalia during the conflict there, flying humanitarian airlift missions following Hurricane Katrina (when passengers were strapped down to the cargo deck for the first time since the Vietnam War) and piloting many missions supporting the war fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Originally from Idaho, Lt. Col. Cooke began integrating himself into the New England landscape. He met his wife, Margaret, while she studied at Mt. Holyoke College, has four kids who have grown up in the local area and is a Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins fan.

On the colonel's last day at Westover, he completed his outprocessing checklist. His care for people was evident because seemed to know everyone. He often stopped mid-sentence, more than once, to check-in or joke around with an Airman or junior officer passing by him.

Standing at just under six-feet-tall, with an unassuming demeanor and a jovial personality, it's no wonder this colonel is so well-known, and loved, around the base. He said that as time has progressed, he has realized that being a pilot means being a leader and that he's worked hard to step up to that job.

That leadership, his love of flying and affinity for the people supporting the mission eventually led him to the work he has done at Westover as the Chief of Safety for many years.

"I have a passion for flying. I want to preserve the heritage of aviation and I hate to see anything happen to the people or the weapons system," he said.

He also deployed as the chief of safety for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia, for six months in 2007. He said that deployment was one of the most memorable times of his career because he learned more about the Air Force then than in the previous 22 years. More than once, people could be heard describing him as "the last of the last."

What does this mean?

"No one will find anyone like me who has done these things," he said. "I guess it's the old-school flying, the raw data stuff, no GPS, flying the one airframe my whole career and my 22 years here at Westover."

He is the last of his breed. He was the last of those four lieutenants selected to go to the C-5, has just shy of 8,000 flying hours, has flown missions for every major operation since 1986, has seen and done just about everything with the C-5, including taking a Christmas tree to Somalia, and is the last of a generation of Westover pilots, including former vice wing commanders Col. Michael Marten and the late Col. Patrick Cloutier.

"My best friends in the world come from this base and we do the mission for the shared experiences," he said as he talked about getting together with old friends at an after- work barbecue scheduled on his last UTA.

"When we get together, we revisit these stories, and they get embellished over time, but it's about the stories. That's why we do it," he said.

Lt. Col. Cooke's retirement ceremony included Maj. Gen. Wade Farris, 22nd Air Force commander. Maj. Gen. Farris, 439th Airlift Wing commander from August 2003 until June 2008, was the presiding official at the ceremony. The nearly 200 people who attended the ceremony provided evidence of the quality of Lt. Col. Cooke's character, the general said.

"He worked for me as a pilot and as a safety officer and he is someone I could depend on to get the job done with integrity and safety," Maj. Gen. Farris said.

Lt. Col. Cooke's retirement speech included some of those amazing stories and records - and some pauses. He sought to regain his emotions as he prepared to close a chapter of his life as an Air Force officer.

"My whole career at Westover has been good and I'll always be a member of the 337th," he said, clutching the microphone and looking out over the audience. "I love the airplane, but it's nothing without the people."