The official aircraft of the 11th annual Air Force Marathon is the C-5 Galaxy. The gigantic airlifter will be seen flying over the course of the race on September 15 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Events include the marathon, wheelchair marathon, 4-person relay and half marathon.

In addition, a 5K race will be held on September 14 at the EJ Nutter Center at Wright State University. The Sports & Fitness Exposition is scheduled for September 13 and 14 at the same venue. All events are open to the public.

The USAF Marathon commemorates the founding of the Air Force as a separate military service on September 18, 1947, and is always held in the month of September.

The C-5 is the largest transport aircraft in the American military and one of the largest in the world. It was designed to carry outsize and oversize cargo, providing strategic heavy airlift over intercontinental distances. It is capable of carrying nearly all of the Army’s combat equipment, including the 74-ton armored vehicle launched bridge, from the United States to any location in the world. The first aircraft rolled out of the manufacturing plant on March 2, 1968, and its maiden flight was on June 30 of the same year.

Some fun facts about the Galaxy:

• The C-5 can carry 25,844,746 ping pong balls, 328,301,674 aspirin tablets or 3,222,857 tortillas.
• The interior and exterior paint on the aircraft weighs 2,600 pounds.
• The distance of the Wright brothers’ first flight is less than the length of the C-5 cargo floor.
• The C-5’s fuel capacity is equal to the volume of a five-room house.

To know more about the marathon, go to www.usafmarathon.com.

Since the organization’s establishment in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) has been working to make health care available to people around the world. Recently, medical volunteers and Navy personnel hopped on Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) to embark on a four-month mission to the Carribean and Central and South America. The team had already visited countries such as Panama, Belize, Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Colombia.

During Comfort’s stop in Buenaventura, Colombia, a young patient received a special gift from one of the ship’s crew. On August 27, Equipment Operator 1st Class (SCW) Manuel Gradillas, a Seabee assigned to Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202, presented a specially designed wheelchair to 12-year-old Buenaventura native Ana Renteria, whose arms and legs have been paralyzed since she was six.

Equipment Operator 1st Class Manuel Gradillas presents a specially
decorated wheelchair to Ana Renteria while her caregiver Maria Renterialooks on.
USNS Comfort is on a four-month deployment to provide medicalrelief
to patients in the Carribean and Latin America. US Navy photo by
Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kelly E. Barnes.

Commander Rebecca Kiser and Lieutenant Commander Josie Brenner were the ones who came up with the idea to design Ana’s wheelchair. They approached the Seabees to look for an artist, and Gradillas, who had become friends with Ana the instant they met, volunteered. Despite having to wake up early the next day, he worked hard on his gift until the wee hours of the morning.

Ana’s appreciation was evident in her smile as she was given her new wheelchair. It was painted with flowers, birds, butterflies, and Ana’s name in yellow, her favorite color. Gradillas couldn’t help but get misty-eyed. “This is what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “It’s the reason I’m here.”

Despite diversity, it is still possible to form bonds, proving that friendship transcends age, nationality and borders. Kudos to the Project HOPE volunteers and Navy personnel for their generosity and tireless work.

For more information on Project HOPE, visit www.projhope.org.

Two years ago, the Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on this day. Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricane in the history of the United States. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. After briefly coming ashore in southern Florida on August 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, Katrina gained strength before slamming into the Gulf Coast on August 29. In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources.

NOAA hurricane hunter WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV aircraft conducted ten long flights into and around the eye of Hurricane Katrina. Lt. Mike Silah, a P-3 pilot, got to see Hurricane Katrina up close and personal, especially when she was an extremely dangerous Category Five storm in the Gulf of Mexico. The day before the powerful and destructive storm made landfall on the USA Gulf Coast, Silah snapped a series of images capturing the eyewall of Katrina.

References: History.com, Wikipedia

In October 1965, CDR Clarence W. Stoddard, Jr., Executive Officer of VA-25 “Fist of the Fleet”, flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 “Paper Tiger II” from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped. This bomb was unique because of the type… it was a toilet!

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