The 315th Airlift Wing offers two separate programs for young men and women in the Lowcountry. The 315th Airlift Wing Women in Aviation & Tuskegee Airmen Committee sponsors two career days, one in February for young men high-school, and one in March for young women in high school. The Women in Aviation Career Day began in 2007 and the Tuskegee Airmen Career Day began in 2015.
Each career day brings just over 100 students from Lowcountry schools to Joint Base Charleston where they have the opportunity to tour a C-17 Globemaster III and speak to aircrew members about the various jobs available to them. There is also a career fair in one of the aircraft hangars where representatives of many different aviation career fields talk to attendees. Another stop along the career day includes a tour of Joint Base Charleston's field training flight where attendees get to see various components of a C-17 used to train aircraft maintainers. Both career days also have a guest speaker each year. Past notables include, the first African-American female to fly a fighter jet during combat in a major war and a few members of the Tuskegee Airmen.
During the Women in Aviation event there is an essay contest with scholarship prizes for the young ladies. Similar options are being explored for the young men as well.
Our Women in Aviation career day encourages women to seek career opportunities in aviation and to commemorate Women's History Month. According to a 2017 statistic from the Federal Aviation Administration, of the nearly 609,306 active pilots in the United States, only about seven percent are women and women account for almost 30 percent of the more than 671,222 non-pilot aviation jobs in the United States.
Our Tuskegee Airmen career day encourages young men to explore opportunities in aviation and to commemorate African American history month. Tuskegee Airmen were instrumental to victory over Germany during World War II, they also represent other victories as well. The 996 African American pilots and more than 15,000 ground personnel who served with these units flew more than 15,500 combat sorties and earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses.
For photos and details from past events visit the wing's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/315AW or the committee's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JBCWIA .
(Current as of Oct. 2021)