From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>
Subject: AF News 08/05/92
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 20:28:34 GMT


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>




From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>

620.  F-117 crash
621.  Eglin shooting
623.  Sondrestrom closure
624.  General officer announcement

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620.  F-117 crash
     HOLLOMAN AFB, N.M. (AFNS) -- The pilot of an F-117A stealth fighter
ejected safely before his plane hit an unoccupied storage building
approximately eight miles north of Holloman Aug. 4.
     Capt. John B. Mills, 416th Fighter Squadron, was treated at Holloman's
base hospital for minor injuries.
     No one on the ground was injured during the crash, but four volunteer
fire fighters were taken to the base hospital suffering from smoke inhalation,
officials said.
     This was the fourth crash of an F-117 since the aircraft entered the Air
Force inventory in 1982.  The Air Force has 56 F-117 stealth fighters.
     The aircraft was on a training mission when the accident occurred,
officials said.
     The single-seat fighter is the world's first operational aircraft
designed with low-observable stealth technology.  The plane, manufactured by
Lockheed Corp., is about the size of an F-15.
     The accident is under investigation.


621.  Eglin shooting
     EGLIN AFB, Fla. (AFNS) -- A civilian was shot and killed Aug. 4 after
firing at base security police as he fled the base hospital, Eglin officials
said.
     Raymond F. Baker, 38, appeared at the hospital armed with a rifle and
carrying his 3-year-old son.  As he ran from the hospital, Baker opened fire
at the on-scene security police who shot back, killing him.  The child was not
injured.
     Baker, from Crestview, Fla., was formerly married to an Air Force member
assigned to the Eglin hospital dining facility, officials said.
     The Air Force Office of Special Investigation and the FBI are
investigating the incident.


623.  Sondrestrom closure
     PETERSON AFB, Colo. (AFNS) -- The Air Force Space Command will pull out
of Sondrestrom AB, Greenland, Sept. 30, ending nearly 50 years of U.S.
military operations.
     Space Command said its flightline support at the base will end because
the distant early warning radars have been shut down. Four were operating in
Greenland until all ceased operations in April 1991.
     The withdrawal will save the Air Force about $25 million a year,
officials said.
     For the last three decades, the base served as a supply port for remote
Tactical Air Command distant early warning radars in Greenland, which were
used to track such foreign aircraft as Soviet bombers.
     Negotiations between the United States and Denmark, which governs the
island, began in 1988 with a memorandum of understanding for the transfer
finalized in March 1991.  Since that time, some base workers have remained at
Sondrestrom to transition airstrip operations to Greenland's home rule.
     Nine members of Detachment 1, 12th Space Warning Squadron, are currently
at the base overseeing the transition.  Formally known as the 1015th Air Base
Squadron, the unit has provided host-base services for the installation since
1983.
     "We're trying to make things as easy as possible," said Nanette Nadeau, a
member of the international policy division of plans at Space Command
headquarters at Peterson.
     "Air Force Space Command people are staying on the extra time to ensure
they (Greenlanders) are well prepared for the transition," she said.
     Sondrestrom is Greenland's only international airport, so island citizens
will continue civil air operations at the base after the Air Force leaves.
     The air base, located 33 miles above the Arctic Circle, is known locally
as the "Miami of the North" because of its warm summers, and because the
Sondrestrom area has some of the best flying weather in Greenland.
     U.S. air operations began at Sondrestrom in 1941 upon agreement with
Denmark.  Nazi troops occupied Denmark at the time, prompting U.S. officials
to strike up the agreement with the Danish ambassador in Washington.  Since
that time, the United States has maintained an airstrip on the base, which has
seen aircraft take off during three different wars.
     During World War II, the base was a primary link in ferrying aircraft to
the European theater.  It also served a strategic air defense role during the
Korean conflict.
     Air Force people at Sondrestrom also supported Desert Storm, providing
operations and maintenance help for 4,800 aircraft sorties.
     The base came under Space Command control in 1983 after the command took
over the larger air base at Thule, Greenland.  (Courtesy of Air Force Space
Command)


624.  General officer announcement
     WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Lt. Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman has been nominated for
promotion to general and assignment as the commander in chief, U.S
Transportation Command, and commander, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill.,
the Pentagon announced Aug. 5.
     Fogleman is the 7th Air Force commander, Osan AB, Korea; deputy commander
in chief, United Nations Command Korea; deputy commander, U.S. Forces Korea;
and commander, Republic of Korea-U.S. Air Component, Combined Forces Command,
Osan.
     He is to replace Gen. Hansford T. Johnson.  No announcement has been made
on Johnson.
     Maj. Gen. Howell M. Estes III, the director of plans for the deputy chief
of staff for plans and operations at the Pentagon, has been nominated as
Fogleman's replacement and for promotion to lieutenant general.
--


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    |            Air Force News Agency (AFNEWS)                        | 
    |           Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, USA                       | 
    |               bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil                            |  
    |__________________________________________________________________|  




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