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ALS renames classrooms after aircraft

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Susan Penning
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Classrooms at the Senior Master Sgt. David B. Reid Airman Leadership School are getting a new look.

To build morale, esprit de corps and awareness of Shaw history, the names of the four current ALS student flights will change to the names of historical aircraft flown at Shaw. The flight classrooms will be decorated to reflect their new names.

"At ALS, we prepare senior Airmen to be professional warfighters and successful supervisors and leaders. Understanding Air Force history and taking pride in where we've been and where we're going is all part of that development," said Senior Master Sgt. Gary DeVault, 20th Mission Support Squadron ALS Flight chief.

The first flight room is now named Mustang, after the P-51 Mustang flown at Shaw by the 20th Fighter-Bomber Group following World War II. The 20th Operational Support Squadron decorated the Mustang Flight classroom with historical photos and wooden lettering.

The second flight room, Falcon, represents the F-16CJ Fighting Falcon, Shaw's current multi-mission fighter jet. The 20th Mission Support Squadron is currently decorating that classroom.

The third flight room, Phantom, will represent the RF-4C Phantom II aircraft, which arrived at Shaw in 1965. The squadron that flew the RF-4C here was the first combat-ready RF-4C squadron in the Air Force. The 20th Communications Squadron is scheduled to decorate the Phantom Flight classroom.

The name of the fourth flight will be decided by the current ALS class. It is a toss-up between Thunderbolt and Voodoo.

Pilots came to Shaw in the 1940s for fighter transition training on the AT-10 and P-47 Thunderbolts. The A-10 Thunderbolt II flew from Shaw during the 1990s.

A new world speed record was set Nov. 27, 1957, when four RF-101 Voodoos assigned to Shaw traveled from California to New York and successfully broke the transcontinental flight record at 781.74 mph. Voodoos also helped avert a major Cold War confrontation by providing imagery of the build-up of Soviet missile sites in Cuba, according to Master Sgt. Michael Gartland, former 20th Fighter Wing historian. 

Decorating the four flights is part of the Commander's Challenge, a program that allows units to give something back to the students and school in the form of a legacy project. Other units that wish to participate in the challenge can call Sgt. DeVault at 895-5304 to volunteer.

"It will be cool to see how all the rooms turn out," said Senior Airman Johnathon Lannan, a recent ALS graduate from the 20th Maintenance Operations Squadron. "It's always interesting to learn about what aircraft was flown at your base and what missions were accomplished. It gives you a real sense of Air Force pride."