Description
Officially Licensed USMC MALS-39 Hellhounds Sticker — Born in a War Zone, Built to Keep the Rotors Turning
No helicopters fly without the Hellhounds signing off on it — and they’ve been at it since Vietnam.
Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 39 (MALS-39) — the ‘Hellhounds’ — traces its lineage to the combat zones of South Vietnam, where Provisional Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 39 was activated on April 16, 1968, at Quang Tri Airfield. Assigned to Provisional MAG-39 under the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, the squadron’s original mission was keeping tactical aircraft flying from Quang Tri, Dong Ha, and Khe Sanh — some of the most contested airfields in the entire war. After deactivating in October 1969, the squadron was reborn at MCAS Camp Pendleton on September 1, 1978, initially supporting the UH-1 Huey, AH-1 Cobra, and OV-10 Bronco. Redesignated as MALS-39 on October 1, 1988, the Hellhounds — formerly known as the ‘Magicians’ — now provide intermediate-level maintenance, aviation ordnance, avionics, and supply support for all nine flying squadrons under MAG-39 and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. That’s 182 aircraft worth of rotary-wing and tiltrotor logistics flowing through one squadron. MALS-39 Marines deployed for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, participated in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, and in January 2003 deployed aboard the SS Curtiss (T-AVB-4) aviation logistics support ship for OEF and OIF, operating from Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and forward operating bases across Iraq. The squadron won the 1998 Secretary of Defense Maintenance Award and the 2003 Marine Corps Aviation Association MALS of the Year Award — proof that the Hellhounds don’t just keep aircraft flying, they do it better than anyone else. This sticker is for the maintainers, ordnance techs, and supply Marines who make sure MAG-39 never misses a launch.
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