Description

144th Airlift Squadron Alaska ANG C-17 Model

Fly with the 144th Airlift Squadron Alaska ANG in this handcrafted C-17 Globemaster Model. Each piece is carved from wood and hand painted to provide a piece you’ll love.

• Length – 18 inches
• Made from Mahogany
• US Veteran-Owned Business
• The product is not intended to be used by children 12 years and younger.

In July 1952, at a meeting for city officials and businessmen at the Anchorage YMCA, National Guard Air Division Commander Maj. Gen. Earl T. Ricks announced that the territorial government of Alaska was willing to invest $1.5 million to establish an Air National Guard unit in Anchorage, either at the city’s international airport or on Elmendorf Air Force Base. The only condition: that enough people could be recruited to man the unit.

The Alaska Air National Guard was organized 15 September 1952 as the 8144th Air Base Squadron. At its creation, the 8144th included 11 enlisted men and five officers. It had no planes. Its headquarters were located in a small office above what was then the bus depot on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage. Because the office was so small, the men convened for their first training assembly in a nearby Quonset hut.

The unit’s first aircraft, a 1941 AT-6D Texan trainer, arrived in February 1953. Soon five more trainers arrived, operating out of Elmendorf AFB Hangar No. 3. In keeping with the Air Guard’s mission to provide national air defense, the pilots began training in earnest for their planned transition to jet fighters.

As that training progressed, the unit was re-designated the 144th Fighter-Bomber Squadron in July 1953. The unit training assemblies were conducted at Elmendorf Air Force Base. Ultimately, five T-6G Texan trainers were assigned and everyone was busy getting ready to transition into jet aircraft.