Forum: F-16 News

MANG prepares for switch to F-15
By RYAN HALL • Tribune Staff Writer • June 16, 2008

Fewer than half of the Montana Air National Guard's F-16 planes remain at the Gore Hill base as the 120th Fighter Wing prepares to transition to the F-15 fighter jet later this summer.

Before the decision to change the 120th's aircraft and mission focus, the wing had 18 F-16 Fighting Falcons, said Maj. Rick Anderson, chief of public affairs for the 120th. Three F-16s currently are in the hangars, with five more expected to return from Iraq on Wednesday.

Those eight aircraft will have the MANG name and tail insignia removed before being shipped to another base the first week of August, Anderson said.

"(We) kind of make a generic aircraft to be sent back to Vermont," Anderson said.

Ten MANG aircraft have already made that journey.

On Aug. 15, two F-15s are slated to arrive from St. Louis, with two more scheduled to land in Great Falls on Aug. 22. The full fleet of 18 planes should be here by April, Anderson said. Even though the first F-15 will be here in two months, residents shouldn't expect to see it flying above Great Falls and the surrounding area until next spring.

A few of the 120th's pilots have F-15 experience and will have to undergo a basic refresher course before flying the wing's new fleet. One MANG pilot without experience in an F-15 is undergoing the 5 1/2-month training to learn the aircraft. The rest of the wing's pilots also will have to take that training before flying the new jet.

"It will be awhile. We're not going to be ready to maintain these aircraft or fly them until about April of next year," Anderson said. "We will have the airplanes, but it will be pretty quiet up here."

Though the MANG airmen are busy training and preparing for the aircraft, they are limited in terms of performing the duties that typically make up their drills.

"We're in a transitional phase — kind of in limbo," Anderson said.

Once the F-15 C and D models — nicknamed the Eagle — arrive, the wing's mission will change from air and ground combat to strictly air-to-air.

"It's going to act basically as a squeegee — clearing the airspace for other aircrafts, such as the F-16 or bombers — to come in behind it," Anderson said.

The F-15 has a more capable weapons systems and increased visibility over the F-16, but the wing's new planes are much larger than the Fighting Falcons the pilots are used to.

"I think they're going to miss their old birds," Anderson said, adding one pilot describes the bulkier, less maneuverable F-15 as "kind of a flying tennis court."

Even so, everybody in the wing is "excited about getting into the new aircraft," he said.

"The avionics on this (plane) are just, from what I've been told, pretty amazing," Anderson said.

source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com:80/app ... 60308/1002

MANG to hold contest for new logo

The Montana Air National Guard must usher in a new logo to accompany its new aircraft arriving in August.

The current 120th Fighter Wing logo and patch features an F-16 flying in front of mountains and a prominent falcon. The F-16, which the wing currently flies, is nicknamed the Fighting Falcon.

However, in August, the F-16s head to Vermont and the F-15 Eagle begins arriving at the base. The new plane and its nickname make the old logo outdated, said Maj. Rick Anderson, chief of public affairs for the wing.

As a result, any MANG member can enter a new, original logo in a contest to design the new insignia. The winner, who will receive an incentive ride in the back seat of an F-15 once the wing begins flying again around April, will be chosen in August.

"You put an incentive ride in it, and people are really coming out of the woodwork in terms of putting in their ideas," Anderson said.

— Ryan Hall

F-16s make last streaks across Montana skies
By ZACHARY FRANZ • Tribune Staff Writer • August 2, 2008

The highway to the danger zone is closed, temporarily.

Montana Air National Guard's F-16 jets, which have screamed across the skies above Great Falls for 22 years, made their final Big Sky flight Friday afternoon.

On Wednesday, pilots from the Vermont Air National Guard will fly the jets back to their state.

Great Falls will have only a brief respite from the roar of fighter engines, though. MANG is scheduled to receive four F-15s in the middle of the month, followed by two per month until it has 18.

The two pilots of MANG's final F-16 flight said they were sorry to see the familiar planes go.

"It's a pretty emotional time," said Maj. Jason Green, who completed his final F-16 flight Friday. "It's a premier fighter that we've flown over the skies of Montana and the skies of Iraq."

Mostly, though, they're happy to still have the chance to fly. For a while, it didn't look like that would be the case, said MANG spokesman Maj. Rick Anderson.

When military officials decided to take the F-16s out of Montana, they originally had no intention of replacing them, Anderson said.

"It was kind of a kick in the stomach," Anderson said. "We had a great mission, then we went to no mission, now we have another great mission."

The aircraft switch is part of a slight change in MANG's mission, to make the unit's focus better align with the geographic resources they have available.

F-16s are designated for both air-to-air and bombing missions. Because there are no bombing ranges in Montana, MANG pilots had to fly more than 400 miles to Idaho or Utah to practice that skill.

The F-15, an older model jet, is used only for air-to-air combat. MANG pilots will forget about bombing, and take advantage of Big Sky Country's ample airspace to practice dog fighting, Anderson said.

F-15s are bigger and heavier than the F-16s, and have two engines instead of one. The Air Force is sending MANG pilots to training centers in Florida and Oregon, where they will spend five months getting comfortable with the new jets.

"Our wing commander describes it as a flying tennis court compared to (the F-16)," Anderson said.

source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/p ... 20302/1002

Man, I am gonna miss them.

I guess this means I have to find an F-15 forum?? Is there one?

[...] Man, I am gonna miss them.

I guess this means I have to find an F-15 forum?? Is there one?