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Scramble 469
tions. Over the past period, the KC-46A has air-to-air refueled
multiple types of aircraft, including the A-10C, AV-8B, B-2A,
C-17A, F-16, F/A-18, F-22A, F-35A, KC-10A, KC-135 and KC-46.
Busy months for the 13th FS, named the Panthers. Having
already participated in the bilateral exercise Cope West
20018 in Indonesia in March 2018, another exercise started
at the end of April, when six 13th FS/ 35th FW F-16C Fighting
Falcons from USAF’s Misawa Air Base flew to Chitose Air Base.
From 23 to 27 April 2018, the Japanese base Chitose hosted the
13th Fighter Squadron. The USAF and Japan Air Self-Defense
Force (JASDF) participated in an annual bilateral Aviation
Training Relocation (ATR) program. Besides the USAF F-16s,
JASDF F-15 Eagles, belonging to the 201st and 203rd Tacti-
cal Fighter Squadrons, participated in the ATR. Throughout
the exercise, USAF and JASDF members worked together and
executed daily sorties, which included basic fighter manoeu-
vres and defensive counter air mission sets. The following
WW coded F-16Cs were noted at Chitose: 90-0808, 91-0363,
91-0399, 91-0411, 92-3884 and 92-3893.
Having been deployed to Kandahar Air Base in southern
Afghanistan since mid-January 2018, a dozen 303rd Fighter
Squadron A-10Cs arrived at the end of April at Lajes Air
Base on the Azores, Portugal. The following KC coded Thun-
derbolt-IIs were noted at Lajes transiting to their home
base, being Whiteman AFB (MO): 79-0093, 79-0109, 79-0110,
79-0111, 79-0114, 79-0117, 79-0119, 79-0123, 79-0155, 79-0164,
80-0201 and 82-0653.
Already in the second week of April, a dozen IN coded A-10Cs
were noted at Lajes, transiting towards Afghanistan to relieve
the 303rd Fighter Squadron. The 163rd Fighter Squadron,
normally resorting under Indiana Air National Guard’s 122nd
Fighter Wing and based at Fort Wayne International Airport
(IN), became the 163rd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, part
of Kandahar’s 451st Air Expeditionary Group. The following
IN coded A-10Cs are now stationed at Kandahar: 78-0658,
79-0162, 79-0213, 79-0219, 80-0152, 80-0177, 80-0214, 80-0217,
80-0230, 80-0243, 81-0944 and 82-0661.
With C-130J Super Hercules 06-8610 and 16-5841 landing
at Yokota Air Base (Japan) on 27 April 2018, the 36th Airlift
Squadron/ 374th Airlift Wing reached a new milestone. The
last two Hercules aircraft, already adorned with the YJ code
and red fin stripe, were the thirteenth and fourteenth C-130J
delivered. 06-8610 was delivered from Ramstein Air Base
(Germany) while 16-5841 came straight in from Lockheed
Martin’s Marietta (GA) plant. A week before, on 21 April 2018,
the twelfth C-130J, with serial number 16-5843 was delivered
to Yokota’s 36th AS.
Related to the above Yokota news comes the fact that on 4
May 2018, a special event occurred at Yokota Air Base. In
total fifteen fixed wing aircraft and two helicopters carried
out the so-called Elephant Walk. Although this phenom-
enon has been commonly used by the USAF, by various units
throughout the world, this was something unique. The 374th
Airlift Wing, consisting of the 36th Airlift Squadron and the
459th Airlift Squadron, managed to get a combined forma-
tion of twelve C-130Js (out of fourteen), three C-12J Huron’s
(full complement) and two UH-1N Iroquois helicopters (out
of four) in the air (with a third UH-1N acting as photographic
platform)
During the formation flight, the aircrews flew over the ocean,
through mountainous terrain and dropped sand bags on
Yokota’s airfield to test and improve their capabilities while
flying together. The Elephant Walk exercises the maximum
generation of all aircraft on Yokota while the formation flight
enabled the aircraft to gain necessary training for future sce-
narios. The formation flight took place throughout the Kanto
Plains and Mount Fuji.
2 May 2018 was a black day for the USAF. One of the oldest
Lockheed C-130 Hercules in the USAF’s flying inventory was
completely destroyed when it crashed on Highway 21 after
take-off from Savannah/ Hilton Head International Airport
(GA). Sadly, none of the nine occupants survived. At the time of
the crash, WC-130H with serial number 65-0968, was attached
to Puerto Rico Air National Guard’s 198th Airlift Squadron/
156th Airlift Wing. Ironically, after having received some
minor overhaul attention in Savannah, the WC-130H was
believed to be the first of its type to be de-commissioned and
was on its final mission, to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance
and Regeneration Group (AZ), when it crashed.
After spending some six weeks at Leeuwarden Air Base in the
Netherlands, and having participated in the exercise Frisian
Flag, the Air National Guard contingent consisting of twelve
One year ago, in Scramble 456 – page 34, we had the pleasure to show you this USMC UC-35D Citation while visiting Dusseldorf for maintenance
purposes. This turns out to be an annual migration as Bill de Koning encountered this Miramar based jet at the same place on 7 April 2018.
