Whether it corresponds with North Korea's sabre-rattling or not is up for debate but Hickam has been a very busy place recently. A number of KC-135R tankers have arrived and departed from numerous bases on the mainland and 6 F-22 Raptors from Langley AFB, VA (tail code FF) were accompanied by another half dozen yesterday afternoon. 5 of the first 6 departed today around noon, with one left behind likely due to maintenance.
The sight of a pair of C-2 Grayhounds coming and going over the past few days meant that a carrier was near. Yesterday, the 28th did indeed see an aircraft carrier steam into Pearl Harbor late in the morning with a deck full of F-18 E/F Super Hornets.
Also of note was a US Marine Corps C-130 that departed yesterday and returned not long after on the LDA approach, landing on runway 26 right with the #1 propeller feathered and crash-rescue trucks following them back to Hickam as a precaution.
Sorry, no photos due to the poor weather conditions.
Saw those F-22As depart HNL's Rwy 8R with a KC-10A and KC-135R following the fighters.
ReplyDeleteSafe to assume we'll be seeing more fighters pass through HIK in the coming weeks.
Great recap. There have also been eastbound movements of F-22's followed by a KC-10's.
ReplyDeleteaccording to the air force times, the F-22s are on a planned deployment to Kadena AFB, Okinawa and North Korea isn't pleased.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i was in error on the counts. 6 departed yesterday but one remained from the first group and was replaced by one from the second group. So, now there are 5 in one row and a single jet in the other row.
UPDATE: monday 1 June saw 4 F-22s depart the reef runway at approximately 1015. They actually seemed noisier than F-15s.
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