Around 70 Soldiers of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 285th Aviation Regiment, departed Bismarck, N.D., en route to their nine-month mission in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Nov. 12, 2020. Some Soldiers drove their private vehicles while others traveled by UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from N.D. National Guard’s Army Aviation Support Facility in Bismarck, N.D. (National Guard photos and story by Sgt. 1st Class Charles Highland, N.D. National Guard Public Affairs Office)

This past summer, four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters performed a flyover of Nationals Park stadium at the conclusion of the national anthem before the game between the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The trail aircraft is assigned to the N.D. National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 285th Aviation Regiment. 

The N.D. National Guard crew operated the trail aircraft in the formation and consisted of pilots Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Kilber and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Dana Clifford; and crewchiefs Sgt. Zach Vollan and SGT Logan Maier. The trail position gave the N.D. Guard aviators the best vantage point of the formation allowing them to provide timely inflight correction instructions to adjust the other three aircraft’s spacing, speed, etc. during the flyover mission.

(National Guard story by Chief Warrant Officer 3 David Kilber, 2nd Battalion, 285th Aviation Regiment)

About 17 N.D. National Guard Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 285th Aviation Regiment returned home to North Dakota, Aug. 7, 2021. These Army aviators returned to airports in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot. The remainder of the company returned within a few weeks via privately owned vehicles and in Black Hawk helicopters. (National Guard story by Sgt. 1st Class Charles Highland, N.D. National Guard Public Affairs)