Posted on 10/14/2018 11:59:51 PM PDT by robowombat
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?
What makes you think that all flyable aircraft weren't flown out? Media reports? LOL
Back in the '80s, my brother said some runways still had white lines painted across them.
Billy Mitchell's B-25 Tokyo bomber pilots had to be airborne before that white line, which represented the end of the USS Hornet's flight deck.
Not difficult at all—just a matter of making the decision and funding the effort.
When I was a crew dog (EC-130Es) back in the mid-90s, we were continuously deployed to Aviano AB, Italy. Aviano, like other USAFE bases, had enough hardened aircraft shelters for a full wing of fighters. In those days before F-16s moved there permanently, we usually had a couple of fighter squadrons deployed there, along with our aircraft and RAF E-3s.
Our platform was designated as Airborne Mission Commander for SAR during the nighttime hours, so crews scheduled to fly the next day pulled SAR alert from 1800L until we launched on our normal mission. We bunked in an aircraft shelter off the end of the runway, on cots inside metal building inside the Tab Vee. Every 90 minutes or so, another pair of Navy or USMC F/A-18s would taxi out and launch on their air patrols over Bosnia. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep on those alert nights, with jets running up their engines just prior to take-off. But in wartime, those shelters offered dispersal and protection, ensuring that some of your aircraft would survive.
Lack of shelters at virtually all CONUS bases is a reflection of attempts to save money and a mistaken belief that a Cat 5 hurricane won’t happen here. In the case of Tyndall, the Air Force took the gamble and lost.
Some are maintenance trainers—they don’t fly. Others are hangar queens, “lemons” of the fighter fleet that require much more maintenance to get off the ground, and aren’t flown as often. Others were undergoing phase level maintenance, meaning there wasn’t enough time to put them back together and fly them out. And, it’s even harder to get the “cann” (cannibalization) birds back in shape when 90% of your maintenance specialists are evacuating due to the storm.
I think it would make sense to relocate everything the
Eglin AFB and close Tyndall.
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If you have to rebuild everything then relocation
for sure should be a consideration.
If it’s anything like Homsestead AFB, forgetaboutit!
why the heck weren’t they flown out of there before the storm hit?
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The question is were they flyable? If not they couldn’t have
flown them out. Stages of repair, work, etc have an impact.
Keesler is pretty close to the Mississippi beach and has suffered storm damage several times. Heck, it's one of the Hurricane Hunters' bases.
USAF will maintain the same level of presence along the coast regardless of base locations. It's a practical necessity in order to train at Mach 1+.
Was thinking they were flyable. My bad...
Oh yeah. I did time over in Germany, and sometimes had to run from Baumholder down to Bitburg or Ramstein for various reasons and I remember the shelters.
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