89th Flying Training Squadron [89th FTS]
The 89th Flying Training Squadron traces its lineage to the 89th Pursuit Squadron. The 89th earned, during World War II, the name of "the Burma Banshees" among the Burmese people because of the high-pitched whistle their P-40 Curtiss Warhawks made during dive bombing runs.
From September 1943 to March 1944, the Burma Banshees compiled a combat record that included launching 18,873 aircraft from fields near Karachi, India, and from northern Burma. The Banshees flew 4,719 missions to protect the cargo airlift over the "Hump" from Burma to China. While knocking out more than 200 bridges, the Banshees also claimed to have destroyed more than 80 enemy aircraft in the air or on the ground.
The 89th FTS, as part of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program, trains 250 pilots a year in the T-37 Cessna "Tweet." The twin-engine aircraft is used for undergraduate pilot, undergraduate navigator and tactical navigation training. The Tweet, which is the first aircraft designed specifically for training purposes, is used to train students in fundamentals of aircraft handling and instrument, formation and night flying.
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