Not just a window

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ariel D. Delgado
  • 47th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  For centuries, patterned window frames made of hundreds of pieces of colored glass cobbled together have been used by churches to depict significant religious events, people and in the case of Laughlin's Chapel, sacrifice.

The memorial stained glass window here at Laughlin's Chapel portrays the missing man formation. The missing man formation is an aerial salute performed as part of a flyover of aircraft at a funeral or memorial event, typically in memory of a fallen pilot.

The window was originally designed and installed in the chapel at Laredo Air Force Base, Texas. Laredo AFB was a pilot training base and was deactivated September 1973 after being declared "excess" by the General Services during the administration of former President Richard Nixon.

"After the base in Laredo closed, so did the chapel," said Chaplain (Maj.) Andrew McIntosh, 47th Flying Training Wing chaplain. "The primary question then was, 'Who is going to get the window?'"

There were many bases considered to inherit the window but Laughlin had a distinct advantage.

"The chapel at Laredo was an identical design to Laughlin's," said retired Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Eric Renne, a former chaplain here. "That is why we were a primary candidate for receiving the window since the panels would fit perfectly just as they had at Laredo."

At the end of 1973, Laughlin received the window.

The window is a tribute to the pilot training wing personnel who lost their lives in combat or aerial flight accidents while in training or after their departure.

"The window has great meaning to the base," said Renne. "One needs to remember that the U.S. had just withdrawn from the Vietnam War at the time of its construction and the window was designed with the loss of U.S. Airmen in mind."

Laughlin lost 22 instructor pilots during the Vietnam War and the window served as a memorial to them and all the Airmen who have and will risk their lives in service to the country.