Airmen from F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., joined with Colorado state road crew to free a man trapped in his vehicle for some 13 hours by four feet of snow. Requested by the Sheriff’s Department at 3:14 a.m. on Dec. 21, four airmen from a Warren missile alert facility began searching through the blizzard at 3:30 a.m. According to a base news release, it took the airmen four hours to travel two miles, one airman driving a Case front-end loader to clear the roadway for the other three in a pick-up truck. After more than five hours the airmen and road crew found the stranded driver.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.