910th from Vienna returns from Gulf oil-spill mission

VIENNA — Air Force Reserve Maj. Philip Townsend said he began to realize the enormous scope of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico when some of the oil slicks they were spraying were miles long and miles wide.

Townsend, a C-130 pilot with the Aerial Spray Squadron of the Air Force Reserve’s 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, was one of about 60 squadron personnel who returned home Thursday and today after more than a month assisting civilian efforts in fighting the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

It was the 910th Aerial Squadron’s first real oil-spill mission. The squadron is the only full-time, fixed-wing aerial spray unit in the Department of Defense.

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