Aloha, ladies…
September 26th, 2011 | Flightlines | Posted by Scott Fontaine
The Air Force just celebrated its 64th birthday (you don’t look a day above 63!) and naturally that meant photos of celebrations across the world.
Well, it looks like the folks at Hickam had one hell of a shindig. Check out this photo from Senior Airman Lauren Main:
This leaves me with many thoughts (tattoo on the dancer in foreground, anyone?), but perhaps the most important is this one: Why didn’t the Pentagon folks hire these dancers to perform in D.C.? Swing and a miss, Air Force. Swing and a miss.
Who’s the best in AMC? Look to Oklahoma
August 2nd, 2011 | Flightlines | Posted by Scott Fontaine
Heading back south with a reason to swagger. (Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kenneth W. Norman)
The guys from Altus Air Force Base returned to Oklahoma last week with some major bragging rights.
The 97th Air Mobility Wing took back the top prize at the 2011 Rodeo, Air Mobility Command’s bienniel skills competition. The 97th took home another nine trophies, too, which must have made the trip to Joint Base Lewis-McChord especially sweet.
The Rodeo, for those who might not know, is AMC’s biggest to-do. It draws teams from across the world to compete in everything from airdrops to financial management. Here’s a list of winners from this year’s competition:
Best Air Mobility Wing: 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus Air Force Base, Okla.
The Knucklebuster Award: 439th Airlift Wing, Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass.
Best Aerial Port Team: 62nd Airlift Wing/627th Air Base Group, Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Best Security Forces Team: Team McGuire, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
Best Contingency Response Operations Team: 621st Contingency Response Wing, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
Best Financial Management: 375th Air Mobility Wing, Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
Best Aeromedical Evacuation Team: 446th Airlift Wing, Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Best Aerial Refueling Team: 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus Air Force Base (Receiver) and 92nd Air Refueling, Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.
Best International Team: Belgium
Best C-5 Wing: Team Dover, Dover Air Force Base, Del.
Best C-130 Wing: 314th Airlift Wing, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.
Best C-17 Wing: 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus Air Force Base
Best KC-10 Wing: Team Travis, Travis Air Force Base, Calif.
Best KC-135 Wing: 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus Air Force Base
Best Airland Wing: Team Dover, Dover Air Force Base
Best Tanker Wing: 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus Air Force Base
Best Airdrop Wing: 97th Air Mobility Wing, Altus Air Force Base
Tags: air mobility command, altus afb, amc, columbus afb, dover afb, dyess afb, fairchild afb, hickam, jb andrews, jb charleston, jb pearl harbor-hickam, joint base lewis-mcchord, joint base mdl, laughlin afb, little rock afb, macdill afb, mcconnell afb, petersen, pope afb, ramstein ab, randolph afb, rickenbacker angb, rodeo, scott afb, travis afb, westover arb
New digs, lingering problems
July 25th, 2011 | Flightlines | Posted by Scott Fontaine
The groundbreaking at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam of a 77,500-square-foot hangar and operations facility for the Hawaii Air National Guard’s F-22 squadron drew hundreds of people, including the state’s governor and adjutant general.
It’s safe to say the 77,500-square-foot facility will probably be pretty dang nice. A drawing on the website of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser shows the new complex surrounded by well-manicured lawns and palm trees. The Raptor is the world’s most advanced air-to-air fighter. Some of the world’s top pilots sit in the F-22′s cockpits.
But the Raptor pilots aren’t getting in the air anytime soon. The service grounded the F-22 fleet in May, citing safety concerns. At first, investigators were looking at the oxygen systems — but now carbon monoxide could be the culprit.
The Star-Advertiser, meanwhile, wrote the grounding particularly affects the Hawaii pilots because Hickam doesn’t have an F-22 simulator.
“So whether these people go back to the mainland somewhere and get into the simulators and then get back into the airplane here is still yet to be determined,” said Maj. Gen. Darryll D.M. Wong, the state adjutant general, according to the newspaper.
Tags: air force, air national guard, f-22, hickam, raptor