![]() Dan Smeller, a Radford High School graduate and pilot with United Airlines, volunteered, Valente said. Several local airline pilots, including Lt. ![]() Seventeen sailors were killed and 39 injured in the attack on the Cole.Īs preparations for the latest U.S.-led offensive against Iraq intensified, the Navy activated 11 reservists, including seven pilots, to meet the increasing demands on the Hawaii squadron. The Gulfstream can be configured to carry passengers with the maximum seating for 26, Valente said, or it can be configured to carry both passengers and cargo strapped down on pallets.įollowing the Oct., 12, 2000, terrorist attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, Valente's squadron flew a team of Naval Criminal Investigative Services personnel from Italy, and on its return took out another contingent of Air Force doctors and supplies. "There was no air traffic out of there for a while," Valente said, "except for the military." When not shuttling Navy leaders and other dignitaries, the squadron flies humanitarian relief missions such as those conducted last year to Guam after two major typhoons swept through the Pacific island. ambassador to the United Nations congressional parties and various commanders stationed to the Pacific. Navy air facility in Atsugi, Japan, six times a year.įlying out of Kaneohe, Valente, 46, said his squadron has provided transportation for diplomats, like Madeline Albright when she was U.S. Only VR 51 is stationed overseas, and it deploys from Kaneohe to the U.S. Besides the Gulfstreams, the wing consists of C-130 cargo aircraft, C-9s (which is the military's version of the DC-9 jetliner) and C-40s (military versions of 737 jets). The Kaneohe Bay squadron is one of 14 run by the Fleet Logistics Support Wing based in Fort Worth, Texas. It is made up of 80 people, one-third of them are active-duty sailors and aviators and the other two-thirds are reservists like Valente. Valente assumed command of the squadron, located in Hangar 5 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, on April 26. Pete Davi stand in front of one of two C-20G jets belonging to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 51 at Kaneohe Bay. David Valente, left, Petty Officer Jake Ferguson and Lt. "The crews serve on a 29-day deployment cycle," said Valente, who during 11 years in the Navy was a P-3C Orion subhunter pilot and on two aircraft carriers as a "shooter," or catapult and arresting gear officer. flights from Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia and move its headquarters to Al Udeid air base in Qatar by the end of the summer. ![]() Valente's unit will probably see more action since the Pentagon has decided to stop all U.S. 26, 10 of his squadron members and one of his two C-20Gs, a military version of the Gulfstream IV jet, were deployed to Qatar, along the west coast of the Persian Gulf. David Valente, a 1975 graduate of Kamehameha Schools and a first officer with Hawaiian Airlines, said that on Feb. ![]() Central Command and others involved in the war on terrorism. In fact, 10 members of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 51 (VR 51) - one of the newest squadrons in the Naval Reserves - are currently 12,000 miles on the other side of the globe providing air shuttle service for the U.S. Today's modern-day "Windjammers" fly sleek passenger jets from headquarters at Kaneohe Bay and still get to roam the world. were descendants of the clipper ship, built of iron and steel rather than wood, and dependent upon sail rather than steam. ![]()
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