For SAC History Buffs

[Nikos]

I was up in Northern Maine a few weeks back.  Took a side trip to Loring AFB.  A lot of the base is still there along with 2 runways which look to me, about 2 or 3 miles long!  To bad the USAF still can't use the base in some small way.  There is a lot of money invested there.  I will post some photos when I figure out how to do it.

[lordmonar]

Where were you in the 90's when we went throught he first round of BRAC?

[Nikos]

No, I worked with a guy when I was in Fire/Rescue, who was there in 65-67, If I recall.  We liked to listen to his stories, mostly about the bad Winters up there.  Long story short, when I was near Loring, I went in to take some photos for him. 
When I was on the flight line looking around, I was reminded of the beginning of the movie "12 O' Clock High".   What is the big arched building near control tower?  Did they store aircraft in there?

[PHall]

No, I worked with a guy when I was in Fire/Rescue, who was there in 65-67, If I recall.  We liked to listen to his stories, mostly about the bad Winters up there.  Long story short, when I was near Loring, I went in to take some photos for him. 
When I was on the flight line looking around, I was reminded of the beginning of the movie "12 O' Clock High".   What is the big arched building near control tower?  Did they store aircraft in there?

That's the PRIDE hanger. Standard equipment at any SAC base. That's where the B-52's and the KC-135's had their maintenance inspections done.

Loring had just one purpose and one purpose only. Nuke the Russians. Period.

When we "won" the Cold War, it's purpose for existance disappeared.
And since it was a very expensive base to run because of the heating and snow removal costs, it was an early BRAC victim.

[SarDragon]

The runway at "Boring Loring" is 12,101 feet long.

FWIW, the runway at Dow AFB (Bangor Int'l) is only 11,439 feet long.

[flyboy53]

I was never assigned at Loring, but have other interesting memories of that base. Loring was the outbound "port call" for a task force that I deployed with once.

We were 12 C-130s transiting through, loaded with personnel, equipment and even weapons. I remember looking through the aircraft windows, marveling how much the scenery around the base reminded me of Alaska. Once on the ground, we were directed into the alert cell and told we weren't allowed to leave, and we had a walk through by SP and customs working dogs. I had a camera around my neck and wanted some fresh air, so I stepped out of the aircraft and was standing on the ramp when a SP pickup went by. He came back around to the aircraft, but I stepped back inside and was never challenged. I think they were told to leave us alone.

We actually came back through that base on the way home, but never left our jump seats.

For me it's an eerie sad commentary of the Department of Defense and a monument to a time of a different kind of war and there are a lot more examples out there...like Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan, or Griffis AFB, New York, or the SAC Atlas missile silos that still exist around Moutain Home AFB, Idaho. I know a lot of Westover AFB has changed now, but at least it's still being used. You should have seen it 10 or 15 years ago with all the buildings that stood in silient memory of the Cold War.

[bosshawk]

Dave: if I remember correctly, Dow AFB was a B-47 base and they only needed slightly less runway than the BUFFs.  I have been to Bangor Int'l several times on trans-Atlantic hops.

I live near what was once Castle AFB and it has slightly less than 12,000 ft runway.  It was a BUFF and 135 training base.

[PHall]

All B-52 runways are in the 11,000 - 13,000 foot range and 300 feet wide.
The Runway at March is 13,300 x 300 feet. With 1500 foot overruns at each end.

And yes, Castle was the schoolhouse for the B-52 and KC-135's.
Did a lot of touch and gos there and at Vandenberg and NAS Lemoore too!

[lordmonar]

No, I worked with a guy when I was in Fire/Rescue, who was there in 65-67, If I recall.  We liked to listen to his stories, mostly about the bad Winters up there.  Long story short, when I was near Loring, I went in to take some photos for him. 
When I was on the flight line looking around, I was reminded of the beginning of the movie "12 O' Clock High".   What is the big arched building near control tower?  Did they store aircraft in there?

That's the PRIDE hanger. Standard equipment at any SAC base. That's where the B-52's and the KC-135's had their maintenance inspections done.

Loring had just one purpose and one purpose only. Nuke the Russians. Period.

When we "won" the Cold War, it's purpose for existance disappeared.
And since it was a very expensive base to run because of the heating and snow removal costs, it was an early BRAC victim.

IIRC Loring also had an Air Defense Wing at one time.

[Nikos]

Here is an interesting web site about Loring.

  www.loringairforcebase.com.

PS.  How do you post photos on a thread? 

[SarDragon]

Dave: if I remember correctly, Dow AFB was a B-47 base and they only needed slightly less runway than the BUFFs.  I have been to Bangor Int'l several times on trans-Atlantic hops.

I live near what was once Castle AFB and it has slightly less than 12,000 ft runway.  It was a BUFF and 135 training base.

I was mostly being facetious about the runway length difference.

According to Wikipedia, B-52s were also assigned at Dow.

[a2capt]

...interesting, too- looking at it with Google satellite view:

http://g.co/maps/rg4gb - Looks like a 747-400 going past.

[Cindi]

Here is an interesting web site about Loring.

  www.loringairforcebase.com.

PS.  How do you post photos on a thread?

One way to do it is post a pic on tiny pic. Just google "tiny pic"  Then after you have posted your pic, under "IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards" cut and paste the code into the thread!



Remember, no smoking on the flight line!

[Cindi]

Movie, Strategic Air Command, with Jimmy Stewart, 1955:

StrategicAirCommand(1955)

[Cindi]

SAC Briefing:

Power of Decision - 1958 Simulated Nuclear War Documentary by USAF

[Cindi]

Modern Marvels: The Strategic Air Command

Modern Marvels S08E28 Strategic Air Command

[Cindi]

Loring Air Force Base Tribute:

Tribute to Loring Air Force Base

[PHall]

The one phrase that sums it all up.

"To err is human, to forgive is devine.
Neither of which is SAC policy."

And when you're dealing with nuclear weapons folks, there can be no other way...

[Mitchell 1969]

[/quote]

That's the PRIDE hanger. Standard equipment at any SAC base. That's where the B-52's and the KC-135's had their maintenance inspections done.
[/quote]

They had one at March where I joined CAP. It was huge and the word PRIDE could probably be seen from
outer space.

It was an acronym - "Professional Results In Daily Effort."

[scooter]

I was a SAC KC-135A pilot for many years. Those long runways weren't just for the BUFFs. The tankers used all the runway and then some for EWO takeoffs if necessary. Many times saw the departure end of the runway still on the ground with only 1500 feet left and just starting to rotate the airplane. MITOs were sooo much fun! Been searching for a heavy weight  MITO video with water burning BUFFs and Tanks. So far, no luck. There were some training videos of this but I guess they never made it to the digital age. ((MITO - minimum interval (15second) takeoff))

[Nikos]

What did they do if, during a MITO the aircraft in front of you had a problem and could not get airborne?

[PHall]

What did they do if, during a MITO the aircraft in front of you had a problem and could not get airborne?

The Co-pilot of that aircraft would make the following broadcast on the radio on the control tower frequency,  "XXX knots abort, XXX knots abort, XXX knots abort."

If your airspeed was at XXX knots or higher, you should be ahead of the airplane in trouble and you continued your take off.
If your airspeed was below XXX knots you aborted your takeoff so you wouldn't run into the guy ahead of you.

All SAC aircraft had red scotchlite on the inside of the spoiler panels so that when you deployed the spoilers it could be seen by the airplane behind you.
It was routine that while taxiing in a multi plane cell formation that when the brakes were applied the spoilers would be raised to show the plane behind you that you were slowing down/stopping. This eliminated the need for a radio call to the formation.

[PHall]

I was a SAC KC-135A pilot for many years. Those long runways weren't just for the BUFFs. The tankers used all the runway and then some for EWO takeoffs if necessary. Many times saw the departure end of the runway still on the ground with only 1500 feet left and just starting to rotate the airplane. MITOs were sooo much fun! Been searching for a heavy weight  MITO video with water burning BUFFs and Tanks. So far, no luck. There were some training videos of this but I guess they never made it to the digital age. ((MITO - minimum interval (15second) takeoff))

Being 14th out of 20 in a MITO with all water burning aircraft was a semi-controlled thrill. (B-52D's and KC-135A's @ March)
Much rocking and rolling in IFR conditions because of all of the smoke!

And yes, the over run will support a max gross weight KC-135A during take-off rotation!