Airmen with the Air Mobility Test and Evaluation Squadron at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., completed the final phase of testing on a new quick-don mask for mobility aircrews. The mask is designed so that airmen can put it on in one step within five seconds during emergency situations like loss of pressurization or smoke or fumes filling the aircraft. Pilots, loadmasters, and crew chiefs from the 305th Air Mobility Wing tested the mask last month in a C-17 flight simulator at the joint base. “The mask is very comfortable and does not impede me while wearing my glasses,” said Capt. Russ Williams, a C-17 pilot with the wing’s 6th Airlift Squadron. The testers will send their data to AMC headquarters where the decision will come whether to procure the mask for the operational mobility fleet. (McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst report by A1C Dennis L. Sloan)
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.


