US Air Force/Paul Shirk
The B-1B bomber Spectre retired to become an advanced maintenance trainer at Tinker Air Force Base.
The bomber was involved in a May 2018 incident in which a fire led to an ejection seat misfire, after which the crew had to make an emergency landing.
The US Air Force disclosed a few days ago that, in early April, the B-1B Lancer 86-109/DY, nicknamed Spectre, has been retired at Tinker Air Force Base to become an advanced maintenance trainer.
The aircraft was towed to an Aircraft Battle Damage Repair training pad at the 76th Maintenance Group s Expeditionary Depot Maintenance Flight on the south side of the base, where it joined a B-52 Stratofortress and a C-135 Stratolifter.
US Air Force/Samuel King Jr
A month after its first flight, the Air Force s first F-15EX arrived at Eglin Air Force Base, escorted by an F-15C and F-15E.
The F-15EX is seen as a cost-effective and expedient solution to refresh the F‑15C/D fleet and to augment the F-15E fleet.
The first F-15EX arrived at Eglin Air Force Base (Florida), escorted by its two older siblings, the F-15C Eagle and the F-15E Strike Eagle, on March 11, 2021, a day after the US Air Force officially accepted the aircraft at Boeing s St. Louis facility.
US Navy/MCS2 Juan S. Sua
A Navy P-8A Poseidon is shown carrying AGM-84D Harpoon missiles in photos taken in January but released this month.
It s not the first time a Poseidon has been spotted with that kind of weapon, but it appears to be the first time a P-8 in the Persian Gulf has been seen with it.
The US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft have started flying missions in the US 5th Fleet AOR (Area of Operations) carrying AGM-84D Harpoon missiles.
Images just released by the naval service through the DVIDS network show sailors assigned to the Fighting Tigers of Patrol Squadron 8, deployed with Commander, Task Force (CTF) 57, performing preflight checks on AGM-84 Harpoon missiles carried by a P-8A of VP-8 ahead of a mission in the US 5th Fleet area of operations (that encompasses the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean) on January 15-16, 2021.
Images of the Eurofighters together on the runway were posted by the Luftwaffe on their social networks.
While the reason for the Elephant Walk has not been made public, the way it was carried out is somehow weird.
In fact, if you look closely, you ll notice that the aircraft were not taxiing when the shots were taken as the wheel chocks are clearly visible in the head-on photographs. Actually, not even the pilot can be seen aboard the aircraft. In other words, it looks like the aircraft were towed in position and parked for the shooting.
During Elephant Walk exercises military aircraft (sometimes fully armed at least with inert weapons) taxi in close formation or in sequence right before a minimum interval takeoff and, depending on the purpose of the training event, then they either take off or taxi back to the apron.
US Air Force/Paul Shirk
Take a look at these interesting images of two B-52 bombers undergoing maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Wise Guy and Ghost Rider, as they re called, are the only B-52s to be resurrected from the Air Force s boneyard.
As reported in detail in the last few months, only two US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers have been restored out of the Boneyard, at the 309th AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, to be returned to front-line service: Ghost Rider, tail number 61-0007, and Wise Guy, tail number 60-0034.