Airmen at Eielson AFB, Alaska, partially dismantled and loaded the base’s last A-10 aircraft onto a C-5 airlifter for transport to the Museum of Aviation Flight and Technology Center at Robins AFB, Ga., earlier this month. An Oct. 17 release states that the Hog, tail No. 75-0305, had been used for ground weapons training. The base has shed its A-10s as part of BRAC 2005 actions. Dismantling the aircraft took a team of eight Eielson maintainers three days, according to MSgt. Timothy McIntosh, 354th Maintenance Squadron section chief. But they did not remove the landing gear, center wing, and engines, as would be done by a depot. That saved the maintainers four days but forced the load team to rewrite loading procedures.
Earlier this spring, the 388th Fighter Wing proved just 12 Airmen can operate an F-35 contingency location, refueling and rearming the fighters at spots across Georgia and South Carolina. The demonstration, part of exercise Agile Flag 23-1, marks yet another proof of concept for the Air Force’s plan to send…