Posted on 06/12/2009 8:08:06 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
BRIDGETON — For decades, they roared across the St. Louis sky, inspiring awe and, on occasion, rattling windows. But come Sunday, the last Air National Guard fighter jets stationed at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport are scheduled to make their final departure, the result of a 2005 plan that called for the twin-tailed F-15 Eagles to be redeployed to guard units in Hawaii and Montana. The flights mark the end of an era for St. Louis and the 131st Fighter Wing, a highly-decorated unit that can trace its roots in the city back 86 years and whose members included Charles Lindbergh. (snip) Of the 30 F-15 pilots who flew out of Lambert, about 20 will retire. It's a blow for what was the most experienced F-15 unit in the world. Of three Air Force pilots to accumulate more than 4,000 hours in an F-15, two serve in the 131st. Col. Robert Mohr, the operations group commander, said he would have stayed another four years. Instead, he will fly one of the two remaining planes on the nearly nine hour flight to Hawaii Sunday, fly a few more times in Montana at the end of the month and call it a career after 26 years. "It's pretty sad," he said. "But most of us are fortunate we flew the F-15 this long." Chad Kohler lives about a mile from the airport and grew up fascinated by the fighters. For the past year and a half, the 16-year-old Pattonville High School student has built a webpage detailing the unit's final days at Lambert. (snip) "It's going to be hard," Kohler said from his home in Bridgeton. "I actually hear them flying right now." It's a sound he will miss. (snip) "Once they're gone, it's going to be quiet around here," (snip) "Real quiet."
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Pic and Lambert highlight sidebar at the link.
I always enjoy seeing Guard aircraft as I travel through airports around the country.
Even at a distance, you can see the great pride and attention to detail the crews take in their older aircraft.
I also grew up watching that unit fly around STL. It will be sad to see them leave.
So, are they going to have a fly-through of the Arch as they leave town?
Another death blow to St. Louis. It seems that STL has continued to be a dying city. Since the 1980’s many top fortune 500 companies have either died or merged or moved away from this one proud city.
Sounds like every Midwest city.
It's been a long time since the Guard flew "Older aircraft". The average KC-135 in Guard units is only 1 year older than tha average active duty bird, 47.7 46.6 years respectively. The Guard C-130s are actually younger on average than their Active Duty counterparts, 20.9 verses 32.9. Average active duty F-15C/D is 24.7 years old, average Guard F-15 is 29.7 years old. For F-16s it is 17.9 years for the active duty fleet, 20.1 years for the Guard fleet.
For the F-15s some of that age difference reflects the mission differences. Guard F-15s are almost exclusively in Air Defence mission (i.e. guarding the US Mainland, plus Alaska & Hawaii against foreign bomber threat, (and the odd Muzzie terrorist), while the active duty fleet is in Tactical fighter units, tasked go against an adversaries own fighter aircraft, a somewhat more demanding mission in terms of needed to have the "latest and greatest". (Data on ages are as of Sept. 30, 2008)
No more fried Ravioli for them.. bonk bonk...
Interesting. Thank you. As a civilian, who’s never had the honor to serve, I’ve always read from fiction (Clancy, etc.) the popular media, and perhaps stuff from “active” forces, that held that reserves and Guard got “hand-me downs”. There were lots of implications of the Guard “not being able to cut it” if the balloon really went up with inferior equipment and less training.
I see now that, as has been implied in material from this current war, that many reserves and many guard units are often just as engaged as active, though just in a different mission when in CONUS. If fact, it might be hard to tell the difference in USAF units, given what you’ve said.
It’s all far beyond the “weekend warrior” image of the old recruiting ads.
Fails to mention that Boeing is still turning out Super Hornets, Eagles and now Growlers at the old McDonnell Douglas plant which is at Lambert.
Toasted.
Where on the Illinois side? Alton, E. St. Louis, or somewhere else?
Thanks.
Lol. O’Fallon, very expensive to live here.
I had to look at a map to see where O’Fallon Mo is. I thought you meant you were in Illinois. I went to a small college in Elsah Il, off the River Road, between Grafton and Alton.
I am in Illinois. It’s O’Fallon, IL in St. Clair County. What is the name of the college?
Principia
Yeah, it’s about 15 miles. I can hit downtown in about 10 -15 minutes during no rush hour times.
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