MANSFIELD, Ohio–The sound is unmistakable, but you feel it first. Then you hear it – a low plodding rumble. Then you see them–two broad bellied behemoths approaching, a sight familiar to generations in the Richland County and surrounding areas.
For some of us the shapes of those planes have changed over the years. The unit was organized at Mansfield on June 20, 1948, as the 164th Fighter Squadron with F-51D Mustang fighters, a B-26 Invader attack bomber, and a C-47 transport. There were subsequent transformations.
According to the unit’s history, the 179th Tactical Fighter Group closed out its tactical fighter mission on Jan. 5, 1976 and converted to the C-130B Hercules aircraft. The upgrade to the C-130H was completed in 1991.
Though we may recognize the C-130s and understand they’re from the 179th Airlift Wing, most of us don’t know who the people are in the planes and on the ground and what the planes are doing when they fly over our communities.
So, a journalist and a columnist took on a mission for Richland Source. As they got out of their cars on a frigid February morning, their mission was to embed themselves in the day to day operations of the 179th Airlift Wing and answer those questions.
MSgt. Lisa Haun met them at the gate. The sign said “100% ID check” and the guards had already done that, exchanging their drivers licenses for 179th visitor badges.
Snow covered the ground and beyond a tall fence sat two of the C-130s, slumbering quietly as the early morning sun began its daily trek. Sgt. Haun directed them to the flight operations center where the mission they were to follow was about to begin.
Their stories, which begin tomorrow, will share their discoveries from talking to the men and women, the airmen, of the 179th Airlift Wing – just ordinary people doing something extraordinary.
