Just Passing Through: 34TFS F-16A

[Old Viper Tester]

A couple of Vipers of the 34th Tac Fighter Squadron (The Rams), 388th Tac Fighter Wing out of Hill AFB. On the Andrews AFB transient line, November 1987.

 

82-0989

 

82-1008

 

 

 

Thanks for looking,

Sven

[giemme]

Nice Vipers there, Sven - thanks for posting these pics  I like that classical camo scheme.

 

Forgive my ignorance: how long a passing through aircraft would stay at the base? And why would it pass through?

TIA

 

Ciao 

[Old Viper Tester]

4 hours ago, giemme said:

how long a passing through aircraft would stay at the base? And why would it pass through?

It would be any where from a few hours to a week. Back in the '70s and'80s, when there was funding for cross-country training flights, often the stopover was to get fuel and maybe lunch - then off again. In the '90s, those kinds of missions started drying up.

 

At places like Nellis, Edwards, Andrews, and bases where major command headquarters were located, the stops would be to attend meetings. Nellis had a lot of through traffic for crews to attend planning for upcoming exercises. Edwards would have crews stop in for information meetings on current test programs or for the crew members to interview for Test Pilot School.

 

I was stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB at the start of my career and at the end. In the '70s, the transient ramp would often have many aircraft on the line from cross-country training missions or from operational units whose representatives wanted to visit the program offices (Wright-Patt is where many of the aircraft program offices are located for development and initial contracting for new aircraft or aircraft upgrades). In the '90s, Wright-Patt's transient line was/is like a ghost town - cross-country training missions are much shorter and video conferences have replaced many of the face-to-face meetings.

 

Sven

[giemme]

Thanks Sven, great insight as usual

Ciao