The head of the Massachusetts National Guard, Brig. Gen. Oliver Mason Jr. has confirmed that the Air National Guard unit at Otis ANGB, Mass., will transition from fighter aircraft to intelligence processing. Reports had been circulating for months that Otis would be the site for one of USAF’s new distributed ground stations. The ANG’s 102nd Fighter Wing will lose its F-15s under BRAC 2005 and transition to its new mission—and be renamed—sometime in 2008.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…