Posted on 10/14/2018 11:59:51 PM PDT by robowombat
I correct myself...F22 aircraft. No difference in my book though.
““Henderson Field was shelled nightly by the Japanese navy but was always open for business the following day.”
I’m guessing that some physics guy could figure out the amount of energy per shell x 100 shells per hour x 12 hours compared to whatever a hurricane produces.
I imagine it is at a ratio of 1:1,000,000
Of course a military field during wartime just needs some potholes filled to keep the planes moving.”
This about as dumb analogy as I’ve seen on FR. And, there have been some dumb ones....
I saw an interview with Senator Nelson yesterday at Tyndall.
He said the base will be rebuilt. It is too important not to be. They already have the runways operational.
This storm blew in from nothing to a cat 4 hurricane in about 4 days. I Imagine the planes that were left behind we’re unable to be flown. You just can’t put a plane back together in four days if it’s being torn apart for maintenance
Take five generators, ice and gas to family in SW GA yesterday in hardest hit areas. Hard to describe damage and impact on individuals. We counted over 900 power related work crews going down.
The 11 year old killed there called 911 when the house she was in with her grandmother was hit by a tree. After the storm farmers tried to clear way for emergency personnel but arrived to late. They were in a rural area and there were trees across the road every 20-30 feet that had to be cut and pushed aside.
The people there are tough though and dealing as best they can with the devastation.
People are not happy with FEMA not because of lack of assistance but their arrogance, they have convoys of 4-6 black SUV using blue lights moving people off roads as they pass, dressed like businesspeople and not even talking to locals. Not a good image.
A couple of points; all fighter wings have aircraft that are dedicated maintenance trainers. Those jets almost never leave the ground, and many can’t, since (a) they’re used to teach wrench benders how to work on the aircraft and (b), they’ve likely been cannibalized to the point it would take months (and millions of dollars) to return them to operational service.
Likewise, every fighter unit I was assigned to had a certain number of “hangar queens,” jets with a long history of maintenance problems that spent far more time on the ground than in the air. Also worth noting that a certain number of “line” aircraft are undergoing phase maintenance at any given time and can’t be put back together in a matter of hours and flown to safety. And, you can’t just plop an F-22 on a lowboy trailer and haul it away, or remove the wings and load it into a C-5 or C-17.
So far, no one has offered a breakout on the damaged F-22s. You’d expect the maintenance trainers and hanger queens to stay behind, but the real question is how many “line” aircraft—the ones flown on a regular basis—were left at Tyndall because they were undergoing maintenance and couldn’t be repaired fast enough to evacuate.
The real issue here is the strength/availability of hangars at Tyndall and other bases. As a rule, there is never enough hangar space (it’s impractical to build hardened structures for 48 aircraft), but the USAF can expand what it has and build to CAT 5 standards in coastal areas.
Turn it into a prison. Lot’s of clean-up work for the inmates.
Maybe they weren’t in flyable condition. Happens a lot.
When this happened at Homestead they ended up permanently closing the base, and left only an ANG contingent behind.
Eglin is a about 10 miles inland and that makes all the difference. Tyndall was like Patrick, with the flightline running right along the beach.
I’ve heard various reports of between 2 to 6 Raptors were left behind and may be total write offs.
Add to that figure the three other Raptors that have been damaged in the past six months in landing accidents. There have been four previous total hull losses. So out of 187 production aircraft, we’re down to 174.
The article is wrong. There haven’t been any QF-4’s at Tyndall since 2015 (they were transferred to Holloman AFB), and the last QF-4 flight was in 2016 with the last being officially retired in 2017.
The aircraft pictured in the wrecked hangar are the orange tailed QF-16 drones, and those white turboprops are MU-2 trainers.
But why on Earth would an Airforce base located right on the Gulf of Mexico that houses the priceless F-22 not have hardened shelters to house those Raptors that can not fly to escape storms due to mechanical issues?
But hey let’s make sure the golf courses are up to date.
Please don’t confuse people with facts. It seriously interferes with their ignorant opinions.
Tyndall has withstood many hurricanes over the years.
LOL, I was S-4 of an air defense artillery battalion my last 18 months in Germany (80-81). The first directive I received from my battalion commander was, "keep me out of jail."
Just because a defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not know how many planes were at Tyndall during the Category 4 storm, doesn't mean Tyndall base leadership, and Air Education and Training Command (AETC) didn't have records of which aircraft were on the ground. Operations has a record of which aircraft are non-flyable, so aircrew won't be assigned to those aircraft, and Maintenance has a record, so aircraft maintainers will be assigned to those aircraft.
How is it impractical to build hardened shelters?
Every Airforce base in Europe had hardened shelters for all of their tactical aircraft.
We’re not going to need shelters for all the F-22’s at Tyndall. Just figure maybe 10 shelters in order to house those that can not be flown out.
How many of those were catastrophic hurricanes?
And how many of those were since they based priceless F-22’s there?
It probably wouldn’t be a big deal if the production line was still open but it isn’t, and spare parts can not be found.
There should have been zero flyable aircraft left on the field or in hangers in advance of the storm. Dereliction of duty by the command at best, sabotage at worst.
When I pulled up the satellite photo of Michael making landfall and Tyndale was INSIDE the eye, I knew it was gonna be a mess, but, it still staggers the mind.
I’m no expert on the air force, but I do know those darned airplanes are VERY expensive - why the heck weren’t they flown out of there before the storm hit?
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