6-52nd Aviation Battalion
The 6th Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment of the 244th Aviation Brigade is stationed at Fort McCoy. The 6-52nd Aviation Battalion activated in 1996 and, like its sister unit the 2-228th Aviation Battalion, has C-12 twin-engine turbo prop and UC-35 jets. It is headquartered in Los Alamitos, CA, and has units at Ft. McCoy, WI, and Ft. Hood. Since 1995, both battalions have flown thousands of hours in Europe in support of the Bosnian peacekeeping operation. They continue to support the respective commanders in chief in Southwest Asia and Germany with forward-deployed aircraft. The most active of Army Reserve aviation units can be found in the two Theater Aviation fixed-wing battalions.
Military pilots flying the UC-35A are either full-time Army Reserve or active duty personnel, assigned or attached to elements of the 244th Theater Aviation Brigade -- including 2nd Platoon, Company C, 6th Battalion, 52nd Aviation, at Fort Hood. Special training for the UC-35A involves two weeks of simulator training and two weeks of training in the aircraft before a highly experienced fixed-wing pilot is rated as qualified on the aircraft. The new jets supplement the current fleet of aging C-12 twin-engine turbo-prop aircraft that have been the mainstay of the Army's passenger fleet. The C-12 aircraft have been in service about 25 years now, with about a half dozen currently based at Fort Hood's Robert Gray Army Airfield.
