Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1258433
History Everything started out in 1970 – NA- TO's Air Forces were expanding, having more and more aircraft and pilots. This generated not only higher costs, but also differences in training of military pilots in different countries. To over- come this, European NATO countries in cooperation with the USA were looking for the best solution to these problems as well as adequate air bases to host and train pilots from multiple countries. After long discussions and taking into account many factors, Sheppard AFB in Texas won and until now is a host unit for the ENJJPT program – Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training. Sheppard AFB offered and still offers a good combination of flyable weather, big amount of available airspace as well as good technical and logistical back- ground, including expanding base oper- ations and size in order to increase its capacity and handling new training jets. This year (2019) marks the 38th Anni- versary of ENJJPT program and since this time more than 7500 pilots were trained with more than 50 000 opera- tions yearly. 80 th Flying Training Wing Sheppard AFB is a host base for 80th Flying Training Wing (80th FTW), which in total has more 200 planes divided across 5 Flight Training Squadrons – 2 flying on T-6A Texan II aircraft and 3 fly- ing on T-38 Talon: • 89 th FTS "Banshees" (T-6) • 459 th FTS "Twin Dragons" (T-6) • 88 th FTS "Lucky Devils" (T-38) • 90 th FTS "Boxing Bears" (T-38) • 469 th FTS "Fighting Bulls" (T-38) 14 countries with a common vision – building alliances, strengthening part- nership and contributing towards the world's best fighter pilot training program. This is the best definition of Euro NATO Joint Jet Piotr Training. With more than 38 years at Sheppard Air Force Base it still remains unique, while having a very promising future and expansion plans. AVIATION