12th Black Letter C-130

Senior Airman Dominic Navarro, 302nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, performs routine maintenance on aircraft 94-7320 Nov. 2. The aircraft is the latest black letter C-130 Hercules achieved by the Airmen of the 302nd Maintenance Group.

Black Letter Maintainers

The 'Black Letter' Maintainers: (Front row, left to right) Senior Airmen Dominic Navarro and Jason Rainey, Airman 1st Class Paul Basirico and Tech. Sgt. Sean Jones. (Back row, left to right) Tech. Sgt. Rodolfo Ramirez, Airman 1st Class Corey Kelty and Tech. Sgt. Tony Shaw. All are assigned to the 302nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

Special Missions

A cameraman with KOAA, NBC affiliate, takes footage of aircraft used in three of the Air Force Reserve Command's special missions, which include weather reconnaissance, aerial spray and aerial firefighting. Airmen and aircraft from the 302nd Airlift Wing here, the 403rd Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and the 910th Airlift Wing, Youngstown Air Reserve Base, Ohio, convened at Peterson AFB for AFRC's first ever C-130 Special Missions conference Jan. 12-13. The conference is designed to share lessons learned, policies and procedures and tackle common support and wing issues. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Marnee A.C. Losurdo)

Special Missions

Airmen and aircraft from the 302nd Airlift Wing here, the 403rd Wing, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and the 910th Airlift Wing, Youngstown Air Reserve Base, Ohio, convened at Peterson Air Force Base for the first ever AFRC C-130 Special Missions Conference to share lessons learned, policies and procedures and tackle common support and wing issues. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Daniel Butterfield)

Special Missions

Master Sgt. Edward Scherzer, 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron loadmaster, demonstrates how he prepares a dropsonde for launch into a hurricane. The dropsonde gathers barametric pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, which helps weather forcasters better predict weather models. The demonstration was part of the Air Force Reserve Command's first ever C-130 Special Mission Conference at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., Jan. 12-13, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Marnee A.C. Losurdo)

AF Reserve, Active Duty counterparts perform rare, six aircraft flyover

Six An Air Force Reserve C-130 Hercules depart one by one June 5 from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., as part of a multi-ship training exercise. After performing practice air drops over eastern Colorado, each of the aircraft joined together for a multi-ship formation flight over the base. Later, the six C-130s simulated tactical air drops at the Red Devil tactical airstrip at nearby Ft. Carson. Typically, C-130 wings in the AF Reserve only fly in multi-ship formations once or twice a year to simulate combat conditions while flying in close formation. Five of the C-130 aircrews are assigned to the 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson AFB, which included both AF Reserve and Active Duty Airmen. The final aircrew was assigned to the 94th Airlift Wing, based at Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside of Atlanta. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Daniel Butterfield)