The Pensacola News from Pensacola, Florida • 17

Chan Roles rriri rr rfie. Safe Flying VT-10 is celebrating 125,000 hours of safe flying and that's quite a record. Find out who has been promoted, honored, graduated, and what's going on in the military community in Now Hear This. cTWHitary ''Pensacola cNew See Page 2D See Page 3D SECTION Whiting Field Awaits Instrumented Helicopters helicopter in addition to learning to fly on instruments. With the new, instrumented H57 helicopters, the students will be able to concentrate on learning instruments.

Lt. Col. Tom McDonald, head of advanced training squadron HT18, said the move won't shorten the training program. But it will save students study time in the transition and allow them to use their hours for more productive training, he said. "They'll have the same amount of (training) hours, and possibly even more hours," McDonald said.

In the initial indoctrination to helicopter training, it's important for students to log many hours, he said, so the training programs would not be shortened. Long speculated the students earning their wings after training with the new H57s would be of higher quality because no study time would be lost in the transition from basic to advanced training. "From an instructor's point of view, we'll have See HELICOPTERS 2D By TERESA HOFFMAN News Staff Writer Like trading in the family Cadillac for an American economy model, the Navy is phasing out the HI "Huey" helicopter in its advanced training squadron at Whiting Field and substituting the more economical H57 which has an instrumentation package. The move will save "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and allow instructors to turn out a higher caliber naval aviator helicopter pilot, according to Lt. Woody Long, a flight instructor at Whiting Field.

Some savings will be apparent when the 55 aircraft are integrated into the squadron in 1983. Maintenance costs and "down time" the time an aircraft is off flight rotation will be reduced drastically. And the lighter H57 helicopters use less fuel than the His. Other savings won't be measured in dollars but in study hours. Student helicopter pilots currently receive primary training in a basic version of the H57 and advanced instrument training in the HI.

Those students must learn flight procedures for a different The 1157 helicopter has complete instrumentation package Blackhawks Land On Eglin Flightline Special to The News History was being made as pilots and crewmen of the 55th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron brought home the first UH-60A "Blackhawk" helicopters to be delivered to the Air Force. The crowd gathered outside Hanger 422 on the Eglin flightline grew quiet. Expectant eyes scanned the horizon and ears strained to catch a distant hum of the approaching aircraft. Photographers and television cameramen checked and rechecked their equipment. With the 55th airmen, and piloting the lead bird, "was Maj.

Gen? William J. Mall commander of the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. Mall formally turned the new aircraft over to Col. Jim Scarff, commander of the 39th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Wing (parent unit of the 55th). Scarff subsequently turned the helicopters over to Lt.

Col. Paul Bowen, the 55th AARS commander. Directly after the ceremony, the public was allowed to inspect the marvels of helicopter technology. A new era IT Air Force Foundation Sets Museum Plans of combat rescue had begun for the Air Force and the 55th. The Blackhawks replace the H-3 "Jolly Green Giants" previously operated by the 55th.

A few months ago, the squadron's H-3s were airlifted to Kadena AB, Japan, where they are presently in use. In the next few months, the 55th will receive five more Blackhawks, for a total of nine new aircraft. The A-model Blackhawks are the forerunners of the HH-60D "Nighthawk," which will go into development and testing by the Air Force in May 1983. The models will be fitted with external fuel tanks, have an aerial refueling capability, and sophisticated night navigation systems. The Air Force plans to buy 243 Nighthawks from Sikorsky Aircraft Company, with production running through 1993.

Air Force officials report that the new helicopters will greatly improve combat rescue capabilities by offering significant advantages over aircraft now performing the ARRS mission. It has much improved maintenance reliability and is expected to be able to survive in combat better. Maj. Gen. William B.

Mason, commander of Eglin's Armament Division (AD), was pleased with the foundation's decision to construct a new museum. "People have been pushing for this museum for a number of years," he said, "and I think it is a wonderful project. I had to close the doors of the ojd museum, and it was painful. I certainly didn't want that to happen, and regretted it. But at the time, my hands were tied because we had no funds Snd we had to close its doors.

"But now we've received a new decision from the Secretary of the Air Force," Maxson noted, "and will be allowed to operate and maintain the museum once the foundation turns it over to us. The men and women of Eglin want the museum very much and we are behind it 100 percent." C. Walter Ruckel, local businessman and community leader, is chairman of the foundation's campaign to raise funds for the museum project. Shortly after announcing the fund-raising drive, he already had a firm commitment from three Okaloosa County banks to donate $51,000 for the museum. He anticipates an additinal $100,000 will be donated by other local bankers soon.

The foundation has hired the professional fund-raising firm of American City Bureau Beaver Associates, of Chicago, to spearhead the fund drive. Donations are tax deductible. Among the artifacts and displays already belonging to the museum are 13 aircraft, a large collection of air armament (much of it developed at Eglin), aircraft cannon and ammunition, bombs, uniforms, handguns, photographs, etc. Many items date back to the first World War. Inquiries about the fund drive, or contributions to the campaign, can be made by writing: Armament Museum Campaign, 14 Eglin Parkway N.W., Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

32548. Special to The News Plans have been announced by the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation to build a new $1 million museum facility, funded entirely by donations from the private secton. Details were provided at a meeting of the North Florida Press Club at the Eglin Air Force Base Officers Club recently, and call for a museum on an eight-acre tract of land outside the Eglin West Gate, in the triangle formed by John Sims Parkway, Eglin Parkway and Highway 85. No tax revenues will be used for construction. Once the facility is completed, it will be turned over to the Air Force operate and maintain.

The land where the museum is to be built is owned by Eglin. The Air Force Armament Museum was opened June 22, 1974, in a temporary location just inside the East Gate. It was closed Oct. 1, 1981, when Air Force funding was discontinued. The museum's displays and artifacts have been in storage at Eglin since.

"We have the most complete history of Air Force weaponry in the form of exhibits to be found anywhere in the commented former U.S. Congressman Robert L. F. Sikes, chairman of the Air Force' Armament Museum Foundation. "We have something that is going to be of tremendous historical and educational value to all interested in Air Force history." Sikes is confident the necessary construction funds will be raised by donations from private citizens, local businesses and aerospace corporations throughout the country.

"The museum will carry on the history of Air Force weaponry at one of the most important air bases in the world. It is a big undertaking, but the foundation doesn't think it is too big to be accomplished," he added. As the Lexington clocks at the pier, top, balloons fill the air, above, and many like Adam Uurns, left, welcome the crew. (Photos by Jerry Kovach) The Lady Lex Home To Rest More photos, Page 3D By J01 JIM BRYANT Special to The News At first she looked like a gray, fuzzy tree, almost invisible as she poked up over the horizon a few miles out to sea. USS Lexington (AVT-16) was returning home Sunday after completing a 2I-month overhaul in Mayport, where she underwent a refurbishment of her boilers, pumps, auxiliary equipment and electronic gear.

As training carrier for the Chief of Naval Education and Training, USS Lexington serves as a sea-going platform for Navy and Marine pilots practicing carrier arrested landings. By the time "Lady Lex" was tied up at the pier at 1:30 p.m., more than 2,000 people had gathered pierside. When families and friends were finally reunited, the 2 -month-long separation was officially, joyfully and undeniably over. 19-. 4 wmsmmmmim mmm.