Wing historian relives joys, trials of old Fairchild KC-135 airframe

"Start the water!" When I was a copilot in the KC-135A model here at Fairchild back in 1979, that order from the aircraft commander filled me with excitement and anxiety -- excitement because we were starting our takeoff roll and anxiety because I never knew if the aircraft's water injection system

Howitzer takes flight

Retired chief can't say goodbye to KC-135

Nearly 50 years after retired Chief Master Sgt. Bobby McCasland boarded his first KC-135 Stratotanker, he is still in the KC-135 business. Today, he is a program manager for a team building a Test Tanker 2 KC-135R for the Air Force. Chief McCasland is also honoring his roots and making arrangements

CENTCOM Air Commander: Supporting ground troops top priority

When describing the vast scope of the air mission in support of ground troops waging the war on terror, the commander of U.S. Central Command Air Forces paints some graphic images. In addition to its daily average of 74 close-air support missions in support of combat missions in the region, Air

No. 2,000 for Bagram

14th Airlift Squadron deploys to Southwest Asia

Approximately 140 Airmen from the 14th Airlift Squadron deployed to a base in Southwest Asia Sunday in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The deployment marks the second time an entire Charleston C-17 squadron has deployed for an operation. Nearly the entire squadron

Bagram C-130s drop high-tech cargo delivery system

The same global positioning technology that helps fighter and bomber pilots deliver smart bombs with pinpoint accuracy now allows cargo bundles dropped from cargo planes to steer themselves to drop zones. A C-130 Hercules from the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron here dropped supplies to a U.S.

AFSO 21 team uses 'Lean' lessons learned at Dover AFB to energize Airmen throughout AF

An Air Force Smart Operations 21 team from the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., visited Dover recently to gain valuable insight into how to "Lean" a work process. The Air Force is training 72 AFSO 21 Master Process Officers through a six-month certification

Charleston closed, airlift still going strong

Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., closed Aug. 31 because of severe weather conditions from Tropical Storm Ernesto, but the base's global airlift mission is still enduring. The base's fleet of C-17 Globemaster III aircraft evacuated Aug. 30 to Whiteman AFB, Mo., and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to

Purple Heart recipient sets sights on recovery, eventually serving his country back in Iraq

When Cheryl Henner was awoken at 3 a.m. June 24 by a telephone call, she let it ring assuming it was a wrong number. When it rang for a second time minutes later, she knew it was about her husband deployed to Iraq. Master Sgt. Jeremy Henner, a 17-year explosives ordnance disposal technician, called