Release No. 04082
By Senior Master Sgt. Allen Pennington
4th Air Force Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. – Paratroopers began jumping out of C-141 Starlifters nearly 40 years ago. They stopped jumping May 13 with the last C-141 troop drop at Fort Benning, Ga.
Providing the jump platform for the historic event was tail number 50229, a March C-141C with more than 41,860 flying hours.
“This plane has served the Air Force very well,” said Maj. Gen. Robert Duignan, 4th Air Force commander and a long-time C-141 pilot. “(However), the maintenance costs are pretty high on this plane. There comes a time when everyone has to leave, and this plane has to go.”
Built in 1965, tail number 50229 was first assigned to the 60th Military Airlift Wing at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and then reassigned to the 62nd MAW, McChord AFB, Wash., in 1971. “Stretched” another 23 feet from a C-141A to a C-141B in 1981, she moved back to California in 1992 to be a part of the 63rd MAW at Norton AFB. A year later, the aircraft was transferred to Air Force Reserve Command’s 452nd Air Mobility Wing at March Field. In 1999, it received various “glass-cockpit” modifications and was re-designated as a C-141C.
The first C-141A, delivered to Tinker AFB, Okla., in October 1964, began squadron operations in April 1965. The C-141 was the first jet transport from which U.S. Army paratroopers jumped. It can hold 155 paratroopers.
As tail number 50229 approached the Fort Benning drop zone, aircraft commander Maj. Jeff Minton performed a tactical approach to the airfield, banking the plane 45 degrees in a tight downward spiral to the left.
"That maneuver “is a lot fun,” said Maj. Jeff Puckett, C-141 navigator. “It is a little aggressive, and the intent is to minimize your vulnerability going into an unknown airfield.”
It’s the right move just before paratroopers pile out of side doors over hostile enemy territory, he said.
Once in the air, no one on the crew except the jumpmaster says the word “green” until the mission is complete. This directive prevents paratroopers on board from hearing the word and confusing it with the “green light” signal, which means jump out of the plane.
The jump followed a night of lightning storms and hard rain, leaving behind billowing clouds, a high dew point and misty air.
Morning greeted the jumpers with a light drizzle that ended early, leaving a warm, muggy feel of dressing in a shower. The student paratroopers, with the sleeves of their battle dress uniforms rolled down, shuffled forward in formation. Adding to their perspiration were combat helmet, water canteen, a full parachute on back, a reserve parachute in front and an enormous pack of combat gear weighing about 65 pounds hanging down below their knees.
An instructor, perched high above a sea of green paratroopers, bellowed “Chock five, on your feet!” The soldiers stood up and responded in unison – “Airborne!”
Next came a detailed check of harnesses, parachutes, helmets, chin straps, reserve chutes. There’s no place for an error here.
The Soldiers, Airmen and Marines showed a wide range of emotions and facial expressions while waiting for the jump light to change from red to green. Some appeared totally focused, others had a look of absolute terror, but most of them just seemed anxious to jump.
“It’s similar to having your head out of a car window. It’s crazy,” said Army 1st Lt. Nealy Ambron of the Signal Corps at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the only woman paratrooper in the class.
“I was excited. I was scared. It is something I have always wanted to do, and I can’t explain why,” she said. “It builds confidence and character. I could not believe what I was about to do. I just went to my happy place and did what I was taught in training. It’s like the whole world just stops for a second, and you’re looking down and the ground is moving really fast.”
A tradition among student paratroopers is the selection of the “Keeper of the Wings.” The honor goes to the youngest person in the class on the night before the last jump. The Keeper is responsible for wearing and protecting a set of jump wings until graduation.
Pvt. Jason Stewart of Chandler, Ariz., was the Keeper, the last person in his class to jump from the aircraft. It was the fifth “training” jump that day.
Quiet and soft-spoken, the private hardly seemed to fit the role of the last paratrooper to jump from a C-141. A fresh-faced teen-ager, the 18-year-old appeared to mature rapidly toward Army manhood with each step toward the door before leaping into military history.
“No one explained” the significance of being the last person to jump from a C-141. “I thought I’d just be the last jumper in my class,” he said.
After Private Stewart parachuted out, the on-board jump instructors and loadmasters gathered the rip cords, closing another chapter in the storied history of the Air Force workhorse transport aircraft.
Air Mobility Command began transferring C-141s to the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard in July 1986. Reserve C-141C’s are stationed at March and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The ANG has C-141C’s at Memphis ANG Base, Tenn. All C-141s are scheduled to be retired from the Air Force inventory by 2006. (AFRC News Service)
