Texas Reserve squadron trains future pilots

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stormy Archer
  • Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas --  Over the years, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph has acquired a number of nicknames like “Tree City U.S.A.” and has even been referred to as the “West Point of the air.” The tank-shaped maze of streets and flight lines is home to the unique mission of producing all the instructor pilots for pilot training across the Air Force.

Members of the 39th Flying Training Squadron, an AIr Force Reserve unit at JBSA-Randolph, play a key role in the instructor pilot training mission by providing both manpower and experience. What originally started in 1997 as a program to help with a T-38 fighter pilot in pilot training shortage; has grown to encompass the entire footprint of the instructor pilot training mission at JBSA-Randolph to also include the T-6 and the T-1.

“The mission of the 39th FTS is to produce the world’s best fighter pilots and instructor pilots, and that’s what we do,” Lt. Col. David Partain, 39th FTS commander, said. “We provide experienced instructor pilots to augment the active duty pilots here. Every Reservist we have here allows for one more active duty member to keep flying combat missions while we take care of the training mission back home. It’s a force multiplier.”

Some instructor pilots from the 39th FTS have reached more than 5,000 flight hours in the T-38. These instructor pilots are responsible for about one-third of the flying mission at JBSA-Randolph.

“The Air Force has a mandate to produce a certain number of pilots every year and producing instructor pilots is an important part of that mission,” Partain said. “If you removed a third of our capacity at Randolph there would be no way the Air Force could make its timeline.”
One of the squadrons that relies on the experience and expertise of the cadre of 39th FTS instructors is the 435th Fighter Training Squadron, the only squadron that teaches introduction to fighter fundamentals at JBSA-Randolph.

“These guys are essential to our mission,” said Lt. Col. Jason Earley, 435th FTS director of operations. “Not only are they flying lines with our students as instructors in a significant portion of our flying schedule every day, they also perform duties around the squadron that are
in support of our flying mission. If you look at the comparative level of experience, they provide a cadre of folks that are here for a long time. That provides continuity and standardization.”

The 39th FTS was first activated as a P-40 Warhawk pursuit squadron in 1941. Members were first deployed to the Pacific Northwest and flew antisubmarine patrols.

They later joined the Fifth Air Force and engaged in combat operations against the Japanese. After converting to the P-47 Thunderbolt in 1943, they continued to fight in the Pacific Theatre participating in offensives at the Netherlands East Indies, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Philippines and the Battle of Okinawa.

After a long history in the Air Force, the 39th would eventually be redesignated as a Flying Training Squadron in 1999 and activated in the Air Force Reserve in 2001 before the 100th FTS, a Tuskegee Airmen squadron, was redesignated the 39th FTS at JBSA-Randolph in 2007.