Evening star., 1953-07-26
By Harry Lever
Stor Stoff CoTrespcndenf

MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE,
N. j., July 25.-District National
Guard pilots, most Of whom have
completed 81 months of active
duty in modern jets. opened IS
days of realistic combat training
here today in World War II type
fighters.
Many Of the flyers are fresh
from Korea and others have been
flying Sabrejets and Starf1re ra-
dar jet intercepters for the Air
Defense Command. The planes
assigned to them now are the
F-51 conventional-engined Mus
tangs.
The men are charged with the
defense of Washington. They
belong to the 121st white
House" fighter squadron sta
toned at Andrews Air Force
Base, Md.
Air Force Kept Jets.
The guardsmen have to use the
Mustangs because the Air Force
kept the jets which they took
on active duty about two years
ago. They consider this definite
step downward in fulfilling their
year round training program at
Andrews and during annual ex-
ercises like this one.
Here are some typical COM
ments for both pilots and enlisted
men of the District Air Guard:
Capt. John Kester of 1912 Irv-
ing street N.E.-"I flew StarfireS
for two years for the Air Defense
Command. Now I'm down to the
F51s. They were good in COM
bat during the war and are still
used for some ground support in
Korea but they're hardly the
thing todefend Washington with.
What we need for that purpose
are F86s and plenty of them"
First 1t. Henry Combs of 2438
Southern avenue SIEVE were
trained in jets and stepping down
to F51s is not good for us in
| training to defend the Nations
Capital"
Won't Stack Up.
Another who wants to see the
District air guardsmen get their
jet fighters back is T/Sergt. Nor
man E. Miller of 5847 Twenty
eighth avenue, Hillcrest Heights,
Md. He Said-"To keep up with
the enemy in this fast moving
aviation age, we are practically
compelled to maintain the Dis
trict Air National Guard at the
highest level of fighting effici-
ency possible. That means jets"
1.-THE F-51S just won't stack up
against jet fighters" contended
T/Sergt. Joseph E. Barnes of 213
East Windsor avenue, Alexan-
dria, Va, and he ought to know.
He was a chief maintenance man
for a year on F-80 Shooting
Stars and F-94B Starflres in
Korean combat.
The guardSmen do have one
jet, a T-33 trainer. but it is back
at Andrews out of commission.
Col. Willard w. Millikan of 3346
Martha Curtis drive. Alexandria,
Va, commander of the 18th
Fighter Bomber Wing, says he
hopes necessary parts will be
made available so that the
trainer can be flown up to Nc
Guire and used in the current
maneuvers.
500 From ID. C.. Area.
The 121st Fighter Squadron
and two other groups make up
the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing.
These are the 142nd Fighter
Squadron of Delaware and the
104th Fighter Squadron of
Maryland. The three groups
have more than 1.100 men here
for the exercises of which 500
are from the Washington area.
The bulk of the District con-
tingent left Andrews early this
morning in a long convoy and
. arrived at MCGUIRE in the early
afternoon.
The pilots flew 10 Mustangs
to MCGUIRE, meeting in flight
with the 104th over Newcastle
Air Force Base, Del, with their
10 F-51'S.
AS these two groups and the
142nd Squadron with another 10
fighters all arrived over MCGUIRE