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Elite Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 1031 Status: Offline

sferrin wrote:

I shudder at the thought of a several hundred million dollar "maintenance trainer" but I guess it has to be done. I wonder if there is a B-2 set aside for maintenance training.

Don't shudder to hard, they don't cost 'several hundred million'. Why is this a surprise? They have to practice on something.

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sferrin wrote:

I wonder if there is a B-2 set aside for maintenance training.

Not exactly, out of the total force of 21 bombers, 16 are active and combat ready at any given time. Four are undergoing repairs and one is used exclusively by NG as a test-bed aircraft for several new technologies and systems.

Related to PACAF F-22s and mostly just of interest:

http://www.baddude.com/units/302FS/302fs.htm

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

Two Raptors from the 90th FS (which are still located at Langley AFB) were on static display for the Star Spangled Salute Air Show, held at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, June 9 - 10, 2007:

F-22A block 30s no. 05-4089 & no. 05-4093 both from the 90th FS, spotted at the Tinker AFB airshow on June 10th, 2007.

just throwing my 2 cents in. Both shots taken June 6, 2007 at Langley.

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

On Monday, August 6, AP wrote: "Elmendorf Air Force Base is getting the first of 40 Raptors this week, making it the first base outside of the contiguous U.S. to house them. When their arrival is complete at the end of 2008, the base will be home to more than a fifth of the Air Force's Raptors."

Related to that is the following news articles:

<a href="news_article2468.html">F-22 Raptors begin operational in Alaska</a>
<a href="news_article2469.html">Elmendorf welcomes F-22A Raptor</a>

We just caught our newest jets today and brought our total force up to eight now. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

Thanks for your reply, afnsucks! I look forward for your pics and for the serials of the assigned six new jets.

Elite Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 1031 Status: Offline

The first of 40 F-22A Raptors lands during an arrival ceremony at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on Aug 09, 2007.

F-22A #05-4090 Raptor touches down at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, during a ceremony marking the aircraft's arrival Aug 08, 2007. Elmendorf became the second operational base and the first Pacific Air Forces installation to receive the aircraft.

The first of 40 F-22A Raptors taxis in to park during an arrival ceremony at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on Aug 09, 2007.

Col. Tom Tinsley, 3rd Wing commander, accepts a ceremonial F-22A Raptor key from Gen. Paul V. Hester, commander of Pacific Air Forces, during an arrival ceremony at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on Aug 09, 2007. The wing officially welcomed the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft with many cheers from those who attended the ceremony. The aircraft, which will be flown and maintained by the active duty Air Force's 90th Fighter Squadron and Air Force Reserve's 302nd Fighter Squadron, is the first to be permanently base outside of the continental United States and the first for PACAF.

A 90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew chief guides an F-22A Raptor into its final parking spot during an arrival ceremony at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on Aug 09, 2007. The aircraft, which will be flown and maintained by the active duty Air Force's 90th Fighter Squadron and Air Force Reserve's 302nd Fighter Squadron, is the first to be permanently base outside of the continental United States.

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

All of the five latest shots above - originally hot-linked today from USAF websites - are now uploaded to our F-22 Photo Gallery (If we have some more background info, we will update our photo captions). Also today, we launched a second related F-22 Raptor news with the much better info provided by 3rd Wing PA - in contrast to the first news based on Lockheed Martin´s press release.

Let me comment the first available USAF photos. In fact, we got two shots of 05-4090 (marked 90 FS), and the "arrival shot" of six Raptors which clearly shows that 05-4090 touched down at last.

Please remember: On May 28, 2007, Blu4 already posted the following hot info:

Blu4 wrote:

The jet in the change of command photo is probably the 90th flagship, tail 090. That one has Lt Col Shower's name on it, and is one of two jets that were flown up on 20 April from Langley to serve as maintenance trainers for the 90th. The other tail was 087. It is definitely not one of the nine EMD flyable jets.

087 and 090 will be used as maintenance trainers, and will fly occasionally (about once every 2 weeks or so) until the official arrival ceremony at Elmendorf, which will involve 4 additional airframes arriving in the August timeframe.

The arrival of 087 and 090 was not a public event, and there was no media present.

Because 05-4090 participated in the "arrival ceremony" it is possible that also 05-4087 was involved.

The first "real newcomer" - 05-4093 - is verified by the following shot:

A 90th Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew chief guides an F-22A Raptor into its final parking spot during an arrival ceremony at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on Aug 09, 2007. The aircraft, which will be flown and maintained by the active duty Air Force's 90th Fighter Squadron and Air Force Reserve's 302nd Fighter Squadron, is the first to be permanently base outside of the continental United States.

Before we got the first news reports and pictures, afnsucks posted:

afnsucks wrote:

We just caught our newest jets today and brought our total force up to eight now. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.

Anybody who can/will clear up that (six or only four or five newcomers) and will provide us the serial numbers of the newcomers? The F-16.net team would be very grateful for any support!

Note: Later this night I will post some more related news media stuff.

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

In case of related news media stuff, at first you should watch this very hot video clip, released on ABC Alaska (and probably online only for a couple of days): http://www.aksuperstation.com/news/local/9045277.html (click for Video High).

And here are three related small-sized AP photos (Please note: The third pic suggest that Lt. Col. Mike ("Dozer") Shower, 90th FS commander, probably flew in with his personally assigned jet 05-4090 (marked 90 FS).

Elite Joined: Jul 20, 2005 Posts: 1031 Status: Offline

Actually I thought only two of the jets were actually 'new' to the area as they've had four jets up there for some time now.

090 was the LAST jet to land, not the first. 093 is also not "new" to Alaska...it arrived with tail 095 on 15 June, to complete the "Mx Trainer" 4-ship: 087-090-093-095.

093 and 090 launched from Elmendorf at about 1215L, and went out to the west and orbited, awaiting the (much delayed) 4-ship from Langley, which was apparently delayed by a tanker issue.

Dozer did NOT fly in the squadron Flagship. He led the 4-ship from Langley...which also did not land in sequential order (I think 096 was second from the left, looking out towards the flightline, but I'm not sure). From the right, it was 090-093-099....not sure what order the other three landed in.

The six ship arrived overhead at 1342L, coming up initial 4x2, pitchout and land.

Took forever for them to shut down.

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

Special thanks to der03301 and Blu4 for their first-hand info!

As I already stated (meanwhile verified by Blu4), 05-4090 touched down at last. In the following shot this aircraft is identified by his 90 FS markings at far left in the background. The Raptor in the foreground (touched down at first) should be either 05-4097 or 05-4099:

The first of 40 F-22A Raptors taxis in to park during an arrival ceremony at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on Aug 09, 2007.

<a href="http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070808-F-7169B-902.jpg">hi-res</a>

90th FS "Pair-O-Dice"Update

05-4087 arrived 20 April 2007 (maintenance trainer)
05-4090 arrived 20 April 2007 (maintenance trainer) marked 90 FS
05-4093 arrived 15 June 2007 (maintenance trainer)
05-4095 arrived 15 June 2007 (maintenance trainer)
05-4096 arrived 8 August 2007
05-4097 arrived 8 August 2007
05-4098 arrived 8 August 2007
05-4099 arrived 8 August 2007

(All jets were transferred to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, from Langley AFB, Virginia.)

Note: Related to the first-hand info which we got I will create our own photo captions for the USAF shots from the arrival ceremony, and over the weekend I will also update our F-22 Aircraft Database. We would be very grateful for any more related first-hand info (including private shots of the arrival ceremony and of the four maintenance trainers).

Elite Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2069 Status: Offline

Surprisingly, today USAF´s public main website released the following archived shot, taken on April 20, 2007 (and probably related to the hot-linked photos provided by PhillyGuy on May 28, 2007):

F-15E no. 88-1699 and F-22A no .#05-4090 fly over the coast of Prince William Sound, Alaska, April 20, 2007. Both aircraft carry 90 FS markings. In case of BRAC 2005 the Raptor replaced the Strike Eagle which moved from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.

<a href="http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070420-F-7169B-959.jpg">hi-res</a>

Please note: I edited the original USAF photo caption after checking my archives and http://www.f-15estrikeeagle.com/

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