[MilCom] KC-135 & B-52 Refueling on AR-302

[Brian Scott]

I'm jumping into a thread hear I wasn't following, but I live in Ft. Worth
and can personally attest to the fact the B-52s do their PAR/touch and go
work here frequently.

Not too long ago, maybe 6 months or so, I went to the Gregg Co. Airport
close to Longview, TX.  I was over at the airport fire station with a friend
and we started talking with the FD guys who were on duty there.  They passed
some interesting information on that I'd been unaware of.  I knew B-52s (and
other a/c) occasionally did practice approaches there, but I didn't know
Barksdale had such stringent rules for these practice runs.  The FD crew was
telling us that the B-52s were never allowed to let their wheels touch down
on their approaches unless a crew from Barksdale was there to monitor
things.

Gregg Co. Airport (it has another name I can think of nowadays) was
originally upgraded to such a huge, long facility and runway so it could be
a secondary space shuttle landing sight.  I don't recall if this was for
actual shuttle landings or for the NASA aircraft carrying the shuttle
between Palmdale, CA and Kennedy Space Center in Florida? NAS Ft. Worth
(Carswell Field) is, and has been, used for this same purpose.  I have some
really great shots from the late '90s when NASA (976 or 905 I believe)
brought in Shuttle Discovery.

One other interesting note in regards to Gregg Co.'s airfield is they
occasionally get a huge, Russian AN-124 aircraft in there to pick up
helicopters used by the Singapore Air Force when they train over at the old
NAS Dallas field.  Rendon Taylor (old Navy Dallas) TX ARNG pilots (still
based at the field) train the Singapore pilots to fly CH-47s.  Don't hold me
to the helicopter type, but nevertheless, they train their pilots.  When
training is over, the Singapore AF guys fly to Gregg Co. Airport, land, and
begin to disassemble the helicopters.  The AN-124 then comes in and loads
the helicopters to fly back to Singapore.  The FD at the airport had a whole
photo album of these operations going on.  It is apparently a pretty quick
operation and doesn't take too long to land, take apart, and get out
according to the FD.

Anyhow, both airfields can be used for practice work for the B-52s and Ft.
Worth is used fairly often.

Brian Scott
Ft. Worth, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: milcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Shawn Levy, USMC S-2
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2004 12:59 PM
To: CallSignBishop at hotmail.com; milcom at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [MilCom] KC-135 & B-52 Refueling on AR-302

That makes sense. I found Gregg (correct spelling) County is around
Longview, TX. Meridian, MS through Carswell is a straight line with
Barksdale AFB & Gregg Co along the path. It must have been using them as
waypoints.

Thanks for the info -  Shawn

"CallSignBishop at hotmail.com" <CallsignBishop at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Subject: [MilCom] KC-135 & B-52 Refueling on AR-302

> Practicing emergency separations and refueling. BOMBER 2 said they would
head towards Greg County, on to Carswell (any idea of location?). I think
they were working in the area of Meridian, MS

I am not sure if you were asking the location of Carswell? Carswell AFB is
now NAS Fort Worth JRB I useed to live not far form there. Parts of the
movies Strategic Air Command were filmed there.


"Sic Vis Pacem Para Bellum"......"If You Want Peace, Prepare For War"
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