Tigers, the battalion is the only United States Army attack helicopter unit in history to have captured enemy troops. During Desert Storm the battalion captured 527 enemy combatants, serving with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). "The number of prisoners (527) is probably a record for EPWs captured by a helicopter unit." The unit flew AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and was based at Fort Rucker, Alabama. This battalion was assigned to the 18th Aviation Brigade from 1987 to 1995, when it was inactivated. In the winter of 2014 Company B was reactivated at Fort Irwin as an unmanned aviation company. There they fly the Gray Eagle UAV, similar to the Predator UAV that the air force uses 3rd Battalion Company C, 229th Aviation Battalion was redesignated on 6 January 1992 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 229th Aviation, and activated at Fort Hood, Texas (organic elements concurrently constituted and activated) on 10 January 1992 under the command of LTC John E. Pack. The 3rd Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was an attack helicopter battalion operating AH-64 Apache attack and OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopters and a Headquarters detachment of UH-60 Blackhawks. Each of the 3 line companies (A, B, and C) contained 6 Apache and 4 Kiowa helicopters. There was also D Company which handled higher level maintenance to include armament and avionics. The 3/229th was stationed at Simmons Army Airfield, Fort Bragg, North Carolina after moving from Fort Hood, Texas following graduation from the Apache Training Brigade (later called the Combat Aviation Training Brigade). The battalion was assigned to the 18th Aviation Brigade and was inactivated on 15 May 2004, concurrent with the inactivation of the brigade. Deployments: Afghanistan December 2002 - August 2003 4th Battalion The 4th Battalion was the first battalion activated under the new regimental system in June 1988 at Ft. Hood, Texas under the command of LTC Gerald Saltness. The formal designation was 4th Battalion - 229th Advanced Attack Helicopter Regiment (AAHR). During its time at Ft. Hood, the 4th-229th requested permission from the American Volunteer Group to formally use the "Flying Tigers" name. The AVG granted that permission and several of the original Flying Tigers, including David "Tex" Hill, John Richard "Dick" Rossi and Ed Rector attended the unit activation at Hood AAF in June 1988 (along with a CAF P-40 that landed at Hood AAF for the ceremony). As additional