Happy Friday, FighterSweep Fans! A Blue Moon AND Burner Friday at the same time?! We say, “Bring it on!” We absolutely cannot go into the weekend without celebrating our love affair with Mach Diamonds and the Sound of Freedom. This week it is courtesy of “Taz” and a pair of Pratt&Whitney F-100-PW-220 engines.
We’re coming to you this week from the land of No Slack, otherwise known as Kingsley Field National Guard Base– home to the 173rd Fighter Wing. As one of two Oregon Air National Guard units flying the Light Gray, they are the Air Force’s only F-15C Formal Training Unit, responsible for bringing up the next generation of Eagle Drivers.
The Eagle community has always been notorious for eating its own young, and while the learning curve is steep and expectations are high, the leadership and instructors here in Klamath Falls are a class act and are immensely proud of the responsibility they uphold:
A McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F-15D Eagle sits ready on the ramp at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
“[Our job] is training the very best Air Dominance pilots in the world,” Colonel Kirk “Tick” Pierce, 173 FW commander, said this morning in a briefing to local and international media. His cadre of instructors expects to graduate more than thirty F-15C pilots this year, from either the Basic Course (B-Course) or pilots returning to the jet after a hiatus and needing a “TX,” or transition course.
We are proud to be spending this week with these professionals as our hosts, in addition to the visiting airmen in town for Sentry Eagle 2015. Be sure to stay tuned, as we’ll be coming to you tomorrow from the cockpit of the Mighty Mighty!