Mather Air Force Base was the only navigator/bombardier training base in the Air Force in the 1960’s thru the early 1993’s. The base, at the time, was assigned to Air Training Command, and closed around 1993. It is now a Sacramento County Airport with mostly civilian aircraft using the facilities. Cargo aircraft like UPS and others are currently the largest users of the Airport.

The Air Force Base first opened in 1917, during World War l, for early pilot training. During World War ll, Mather was also a large pilot training base, with many of the trained aircrew, sent to the Pacific area of conflict. When I first received orders to Mather A F B in 1971, I was an a aircraft maintenance officer, assigned to the Chief Of Maintenance office. At that time, we had 99 old and obsolete T29 twin propeller engined aircraft used for the navigator training mission.

Shortly after I arrived, our mission changed and we were told by Headquarters that we were to ship out the old T 29 aircraft to other bases and prepare to receive 19 all new T 43 twin jet training aircraft. It was a modern version of the BOEING 737 civilian passenger airliner. This new navigator trainer aircraft represented a giant leap in student training. Prior to receiving the T 43 aircraft, I was made project officer to help prepare for its arrival. I needed to design a flightline parking plan for 19 very large aircraft, which had never been done before. Mather was the only air force base that had T 43 aircraft assigned. Around the same time, I was also assigned as project officer for the new, much smaller T 37 twin jet engine aircraft, which was to be used to train one navigator student with one pilot/ navigator instructor, sitting side by side. The T 37 jet aircraft was the same type aircraft that I flew in Pilot Training at Williams A F B in Arizona, back in 1966.

The T37 was added to the training program to give new students the feel of navigating a small aircraft. The much larger T43 student training aircraft was set up inside with a number of navigator stations that could train a very large class of students, at one time. This aircraft had a long range and could fly all the way to the east coast and back, giving realistic navigator training to the students. Not only was Mather the only American student navigator/bombardier training base in the Air Force, it also trained foreign students, at times.

When this picture was taken, I was an Aircraft Maintenance Control Officer. As Project Officer for receiving these new T 43 and T 37 jet training aircraft, I was in the center of the major shift in aircraft technology, going from propeller aircraft to jets, and the product of a much better trained navigator student. I later became Chief of Maintenance for a short time, before returning to civilian life. I have GREAT MEMORIES of my five-year assignment to Mather Air Force Base and that’s what life is all about.