Page 1 - Edwards AFB Desert Wings 10-16-15

Volume 63, Number 16 Serving the community of Edwards Air Force Base, California October 16, 2015

www.edwards.af.mil – www.facebook.com/edwardsairforcebase

Former loadmaster, tester to be inducted into hall of fame

by Rebecca Amber gram code named C-X D9000, which later Air Force photograph by Rebecca Amber
Staff writer
produced the C-17 Globemaster III. Lancaster resident Theodore Venturini will be inducted into the Airlift Tanker Association (ATA)
LANCASTER, Calif.—Retired Master +DOORI)DPH2FW+HLVRQHRIVL[&$3DWK¿QGHUORDGPDVWHUVWKDWZLOOEHKRQRUHGDW
Sgt. Theodore Venturini will be inducted At McDonnell Douglas, he authored a an Air Mobility Command and ATA Symposium at the Orlando World Center Marriot in Florida.
into the Airlift Tanker Association Hall of
Fame Oct. 31. critical section of the Operational Volume ing Russian radars. At that time, he had a in the steel mills as a mechanic. After being
distant cousin living in Cleveland, Ohio, laid off from that job, someone suggested
+HLVRQHRIVL[&$3DWK¿QGHU/RDG- of the C-X proposal. who asked them to immigrate to the United that he talk to an Air Force recruiter.
masters that will be honored at an Air Mo- States.
bility Command and ATA Symposium at the The proposal featured a uniform cargo See LOADMASTER, Page 3
Orlando World Center Marriot in Florida. ÀRRUDQGUDPSVWUXFWXUHZLWKDOORIFDUJR After moving to Cleveland, he took a job

According to the ATA nomination, the handling systems and associated operation-
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stone of the successful design, develop- al redundancies built into the aircraft. He
ment, production, test and evaluation of DOVRKHOSHGGHVLJQWKH¿UVWIXOO\LQWHJUDWHG
the cargo compartment on the C-17; the
“most technically advanced and successful and dedicated loadmaster station that would
air mobility aircraft ever produced.”
enable the loadmaster to have full control
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caster, Venturini was one of the more se- of the entire cargo compartment and all as-
nior loadmasters who brought a wealth
of knowledge and experience to the C-17 sociated systems from the dedicated operat-
program.
ing station.
“It’s an honor,” said Venturini. “They ³)URP,ODLGRXWWKH¿UVWORDGPDV-
have the bust made. They unveil the bust,
that’s the big night at the induction. We all ter station and panel in 1981, the work that
stand next to our bust — it is pretty excit-
ing.” was going on up here was going on for a

The bronze bust will be placed in the long time. That’s how I was instrumental in
Mobility Memorial Park at Scott Air Force
Base, Ill. the three-man crew,” he recalled.
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Venturini retired from the Air Force in
1979 and went to work for McDonnell ORDGPDVWHURQWKH¿UVWÀLJKWRIWKH&$
Douglas as the chief loadmaster on a pro-
Globemaster III. Today, there are 213 C-17

Globemasters serving the U.S. Air Force
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LQWKHDLUOLIWÀHHW

Getting to the C-17 was a long journey
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turini and his wife Marcelle were born.

The couple, along with Venturini’s sister,

emigrated to Canada in the 1940s where

he worked on the Distant Early Warning
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stretched from Alaska to Greenland detect-

Hispanic Heritage Month committee hosts luncheon

The 2015 Hispanic Heritage Month festivities came to a close Oct. 14
with a luncheon at Club Muroc. Eddie Zavala, NASA SOFIA program
manager, was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. He spoke about
his career with SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy. He also shared why Hispanic Heritage Month is meaningful
to him and why diversity is important. Hispanic Heritage Month is
celebrated every year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and this year’s theme
is “Hispanic Americans: Energizing Our Nation’s Diversity.”

Air Force photograph by Rebecca Amber