by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)

Military units activated during World War II to train pilots for operations in Africa and the Aleutian Islands in what was then the U.S. Territory of Alaska were reactivated Tuesday (July 2) to train foreign military pilots at the Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith.

The 85th Fighter Group and the 57th Fighter Squadron, both under the Eglin, Fla.-based 33rd Fighter Wing, will be based at Ebbing and are the “bedrock” of training for F-35 pilots from numerous U.S. and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allied countries, noted Rob Ator, a retired Air Force colonel and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission director of Military Affairs.

“Of the three big things that had to happen, we needed this to happen. So now we have the core of the instructors, and then we have to have the runway available, and then we have to have aircraft arrival. And that’s all going to happen by the end of Fall,” Ator said Tuesday.

‘Bedrock’ units to train F-35 pilots in Fort Smith are activated