43rd FTS welcomes new commander

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Josh Harbin
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. - --  Lieutenant Col. Michael Gibbon relinquished command of the 43rd Flying Training Squadron, 340th Flying Training Group, to Lt. Col. Brian Bowman in a ceremony Jan. 9 in the BLAZE Hangar.

Colonel Bowen was previously the director of operations here prior to assuming command.

He began his Air Force career as an enlisted Airman in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard as an A-7D aircrew life support technician. He later received the Airman of the Year award for the state of Pennsylvania in 1985 and was selected to attend The Academy of Military Science, an officer training school, at Knoxville Air National Guard Base, Tenn. He received his commission in 1988 and went on to Reese AFB, Texas, for pilot training. He later returned to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

In 1991, as chief scheduler at Pennsylvania Air National Guard, he led the way for the unit's transition from the A-7D to the KC-135E. He was then quickly upgraded to aircraft commander, instructor and evaluator.

He has flown combat and combat support missions for Operation Allied Force in Bosnia, Uphold Democracy in Haiti, and Operation Southern Watch in Iraq.

Colonel Bowman transferred to Sheppard AFB, Texas, in 1998 as the first T-38 flight commander for the 97th Flying Training Squadron., a part of the newly-developed Associate Instructor Program using reserve pilots to augment the active duty cadre. His efforts resulted in the squadron reaching far beyond its planned sortie rate and becoming the top sortie-producing squadron within the 340th Flying Training Group.

During his time at Sheppard AFB, he also served as the Chief of T-38 Training, leading a major rewrite of all seven T-37 syllabi for the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program. That two-year endeavor reduced overall flying time costs by leveraging the new T-6 primary trainer and adapting the T-38 syllabus to achieve for contiguous training.

He has also served as the investigating officer on five Class-A flight mishaps within Air Education and Training Command.

He is a command pilot with more than 3,300 flying hours in the A7 D/K, KC-135 A/E/R/, and the T-38 A/C.

The mission of the 43rd FTS is to administer and execute the AETC/AFRC Associate Instructor Pilot Program and provide active, guard, reserve, and traditional reserve instructor pilots to augment the cadre of pilot training. During wartime or in the event of hostilities, the unit is mobilized to offset anticipated losses of experienced active duty pilot contributions to the instructor pilot training program.