AIR FORCE NOW

[Music] it all began here the british weren't expecting any resistance on the march to conquered but at lexington green their path was blocked by armed minutemen from somewhere a shot rang out followed by countless more the outnumbered minutemen were cut down by a volley of british musket fire eight americans died on this green they're buried at the foot of this monument the night before signal lanterns were raised in the old north church in boston sending rioters out warning the countryside of the british advance by the time the british got to concord more patriots had answered the alarm and had taken defensive positions at this bridge this time blood was spilled on both sides there was no turning back the revolution had begun today's american fighting man traces his heritage to the men who fought and died here the army navy and marines all took shape in the first year of the revolution later years would see the development of air power the armed services have all seen change in the years that followed but one thing has never changed the spirit that was displayed that cold morning 200 years ago on the green at lexington and here at this old bridge in concord so [Music] [Applause] [Music] i love yes her do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] giant voice 74 the strategic air commands bombing and navigation competition in which the top air crews in sac buy for electronic bullseyes special guests included competing crews from the tactical air command and the british royal air force the giant voice 74 competitive force was made up of 20 b-52s two fb-111s four raf balkans 27 kc-135s and two f-111s general doherty commander of sac explained about another important part of the competition the selected weapons loading crew from each of our bomb wings are competing both on the quality of their equipment their training their proficiency the accuracy of their loading and they're loading uh under scored conditions these two are superb professionals and it appears that the 93rd bomb wing from castle air force base 15th air force in california is going to be the winner [Music] [Music] oh [Music] standby tone radar everything was real except the actual dropping of bombs [Music] scoring was accomplished by ground-positioned radar units of saks first combat evaluation group the accuracy was transposed to a point representation which determined the final winners and place standings the grand prize to be awarded at this competition is the coveted fairchild trophy the winner is a 380th bomb wing plattsburgh air force base new york bomber crew s 23 commanded by major allen and tanker crew s 104 commanded by captain maselco general doherty commented on the true winners of the competition [Applause] you know we're all winners in this thing our countries our alliance our commands all win from this kind of competition aircraft commander major allen many of the capabilities present in our equipment today resulted from recommendations following bombing competitions in the past aircraft commander captain it's been a great competition among true professionals and the results show it the community college of the air force doesn't have a campus like this one in fact it really doesn't have a main campus at all yet it's as large as the entire air force and as small and individual as the base education office colonel phipps president of the college explains the reason we needed a community college of the air force is because our community the enlisted people of the air force is a little different than other communities they're not all in one place so we needed a program with all the trimmings a catalog transcript accreditation that could follow the enlisted people wherever they went around the world when the young air force man or woman signs up he's already signing up for the community college of the air force all our basic trainees arrive at lackland air force base and for our purposes we award four semester hours of physical education for the experiences there after the airmen leaves lackland air force base and basic military training in most cases he or she will be assigned to a school of applied aerospace science and there receives the basic portion of his technical education after that proceeds to an operational base at over 200 bases and in cooperation with more than 600 colleges and universities the airman may proceed with his or her education wherever he goes at the end of that time we offer a credential we call a career education certificate what the community college means to the individual is an opportunity to grow and an opportunity to progress of course it's aimed at the needs of the air force but we have nearly a 90 percent overlap between air force skills and civilian skills so if the returning service man either on retirement or when he exits service wants to apply for a job or for a license his chances are a lot better if he's participated in the community college of the air force and can take his academic credentials with him [Music] the high desert of california where german air force fighter crews transition into their new aircraft the f-4f [Music] working with the instructor pilots of the 20th tactical fighter training squadron at george air force base the air crews fly the european camouflaged f4fs owned by the german government [Music] that german air crews are good they handle themselves extremely well captain bruce freeman an instructor pilot talks about the german crews these are all qualified fighter crews and we're just taking them and their skills in another airplane transitioning them into the f4 our overall goal is to train both the instructor pilots the front seaters and their crewed iwsos instructor weapons systems officers prior to their returning to germany these six form crews and twelve aircrew members will form the cadre of the weapons instructors for their particular wing once they do get back considerable emphasis is being placed in the utilization of our flight simulator this is done for a number of reasons the primary one being economy we find that we can simulate an awful lot of things here on the ground okay the range is coming down kind of slow it's got uh 25 miles changing scopes we take them through to what we call the fighter weapon school equivalent this is sort of like getting your phd in being a fighter pilot in the case of the front seater or fighter gator in the case of the backseater any problem captain helmet wrote him it's pretty representative of the caliber individual we're getting in this training he for one has well over three thousand hours of flying time he's been an instructor prior to coming here you know when you're ready he's got over 1300 hours of fighter time uh when we finish this course we go back to germany and train the pilots to get them combat ready and familiar with the aircraft that's our basic job people do over there in europe the two-seat aircraft is a great advantage and it helps a lot doing the shop in a tactical manner the f4f differs from a number of the other models well first of all it's unique in that we have the only f4fs anywhere in the active air force but they're actually paid for owned and maintained by finances supplied by the german government [Music] [Applause] [Music] aerial training missions include both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat maneuvers the air crews practice the techniques and tactics they'll later teach at their home wings in germany [Music] [Music] it helps a lot to begin this training here on the f4 it improves the capability of the air force in germany and the nato especially [Music] [Applause] each year winners of the air force worldwide talent competition are selected for the tops in blue tour traveling across the united states and entertaining over 58 000 air force people and their families the 1974 tops in blue presented 110 performances in 115 days [Music] though temporarily away from their regular air force jobs the cast puts in an incredibly full day doubling as technicians and stagehands as well as on stage performers the thompson blue members are always busy either preparing for the show or moving to the next stop bring your left leg your left leg over to your left just a little over to your left over to your left over here hold it lock it back up before good enough good enough we ready to tune up let's go tune up a wayne you be available on that spot the flashlights at the same time anytime you see the lights flash back here you flash okay now you can help cover for aretha and rachel we have what we call it's your night in the barrel and during that period of time whoever's night it is anybody can say anything they want all in fun and everybody takes it in fun but it's just to get us going so when we hit the stage on the opening number we're prepared okay who's tonight well there's two things i really like about you one is and the other is no i don't want to say nothing about your sex plan you know but uh you gotta try using the reed sometimes you're coming along fine girl at first you're wearing my clothes then you forget your draft and all i can do is teach you how to wind the microphone cables right and you'll be all right okay the soloist and opening will still go all the way around all right let's go [Music] oh man [Music] peace [Music] i've been playing [Music] again [Music] so [Music] majority of the people at bases cannot understand how they can keep going after a performance after tearing down maybe midnight and they're still going strong having fun this is the key to the type of people that we have on this year's tour [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you