5-158th Aviation Regiment
The 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, 12th Aviation Brigade, is the largest aviation battalion in the U.S. Army. Units of the battalion are located in Giebelstadt and Wiesbaden, Germany and Aviano, Italy. Their mission includes transportation of people and equipment. During combat or peacekeeping missions the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment is also responsible for transporting corps leaders throughout the area of operations. Unit aircraft is a mixture of Blackhawks and Chinooks. During 1999 the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment deployed to Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Switzerland and other places within Europe.
The regiment has a total of 70 aircraft, which is quite a bit larger than the normal 24 in an aviation battalion. The normal battalion will fly about 3,000-4,000 hours per year, but the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment has nearly 12,000 accident free flying hours.
Their mission includes transportation of people and equipment. During peacetime, combat or in peacekeeping missions the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment is also responsible for transporting corps leaders throughout the area of operations. The regiment is also the primary organization used for transporting the U.S. vice president and entourage for the president when they are in the theater.
The 158th Aviation Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 158th Aviation Battalion on 25 July 1968 at Fort Carson, Colorado and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division.
Headquarters Company, 158th Aviation Battalion, nicknamed the "Fighting Knights", reorganized on 18 September 1987 at Giebelstadt Army Airfield (GAAF) in Giebelstadt, Germany and was designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment.
The line company elements of the battalion, A/5-158th and E/5-158th, are located at Wiesbaden Air Base (WAB) in Wiesbaden, Germany. The latest company to join the 5-158th Aviation Regiment is B/5-158th, which was activated on 16 October 1998 in Aviano, Italy. The activation of C/5-158th at WAB, projected for January 2000, was to complete the Army's Doctrinal template of the Mission Ready Battalion. As of early 2000 the unit consisted of eight companies flying and maintaining UH-60 Black Hawks and CH-47 Chinooks.
During 1999 the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment deployed to Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Africa, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and other areas within Europe. The total flying hours for Fiscal Year 1999 is over 11,000, with over 5,000 of those hours logged in support of Task Force Hawk in Albania. Vehicle miles covered by members of the battalion were over 135,000. The unit also dispensed over 750,000 gallons of aircraft fuel without a major incident. Soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment were the first to fly U.S. troops into Kosovo.
