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Karo-Aviation
visit CA ANG at Stockton 2015-3
Article and pictures by Rolph Klijn
At the beginning of March 2015 we were able to visit the California Army
National Guard at Stockton at the right moment. The unit had received
its new CH47F’s just two months earlier and still had some of the old
workhorse CH47D’s on strength. In addition to that they also fly the
UH72A Lakota from Stockton.
The Cal Army National Guard has four main bases in California. Mather,
Stockton, Fresno and Los Alamitos. Differing in roles. At Mather you
will find the UH60’s in the MedEvac role. In Fresno maintenance and
repair is being done and at Los Alamitos the UH60’s are tasked with the
attack role. Bringing the troops to the front..
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New CH-47F Chinooks helicopters have
arrived in Stockton to served with the California Army
National Guard as replacement of their old CH-47D models" |
B/1-126th
AVN (HH)
These are the heavy lift boys. Flying the big double rotor Chinook
the unit is tasked with providing heavy lift and transport capacity.
At the time of our visit the unit just received the new F models.
The D models are being phased out. Some will soldier on elsewhere,
some are at the end of their service life and are being taken apart
for spare’s.
The first thing you notice is the difference in paint scheme. The
new F model is a light green while the D models are almost black. Of
course having worked hard for more than 20 years also showed on the
D’s. The F model features a new more powerful engine and gives
easier maintenance, Also because of its construction it will suffer
less from vibration and this will increase its service life.
One of the important duties while at home in California is fire
fighting. California has too much sun and too little rain. Last year
the unit was involved in fighting the worst fire season recorded in
history. This year they expect even worse.
A/3-140th AVN (S&S)
The other unit on base is flying the UH72A. The UH72 is a
militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145. Built by Airbus
Helicopters Inc, at their facility in Columbus, Mississippi. In June
2006 the Eurocopter EC145 was selected the winner in the competition
for replacement of the UH1 and OH58. Competitors at that time
included other well known helicopter companies Bell (Bell 210/412),
Augusta/Westland (AW139) and McDonnall Douglas (MD900/902).
The name Lakota was given in the service’s tradition of giving their
helicopters native American names.
The helicopter is used in various roles. Al are domestic. The
Lakota’s are not used in combat areas. With all its sensors and
equipment it gives the US Army a great platform for different.
The roles include:
- Medevac. For this use it can be fitted to
carry two stretchers and a medic
- Search and Rescue. The helicopter is
fitted with a winch to extract victims. For the search
role it has a broad equipment pack. It can be fitted with FLIR
(Forward looking Infrared) and a camera. The quality is so high it
can clearly read a man’s id from a 1000 feet up and it can lock onto
coordinates from a distance of 29 miles. The sensors are thus that
once a target is identified the data is stored and it will recognize
the target again even if has gone out of sight for a while.
- Training and transport. In these roles the
helicopters are only equipped with the winch in what is called the
“slick” version.
In the Search mode the unit cooperates a lot with the local police
forces. The FLIR comes in handy by localizing heroine plants.
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The UH-72A Lakota is the
replacement aircraft for both the venerable UH-1 “Huey” and
aging OH-58, and has been going to both active and guard
units since first delivery in 2006. |
For maintenance of the Lakota the Army
has taken a different route. There are no spare parts on the base. When
anything is needed they call Euro Copter who immediately sends out the
required parts. Also when specialist tools are needed they are send out
the same way and after the job is done the tools are send back again.
This way the base does not have to keep enormous and expensive stocks
for maintenance.
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