sandman | Blind Bat News

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01MAR2022.

On 01MAR2022, an F-15C Eagle named Sandman took part in a training session with the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing.

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant Jennifer Shirar, 01MAR2022.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.

Excerpt from 173rd Fighter Wing’s March 2022 video report, by Major Nikkie Jackson, explaining how Oregon’s F-15 Eagles are a key part of U.S. airspace defense, and revealing that Oregon will be home for the new “Eagle-2” (aka F-15EX):

Sandman flies over Crater Lake, Oregon, along with a restored B-17 Flying Fortress from World War 2. Oregon Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Penny Snoozy, 24JUN2022.

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Penny Snoozy, 24JUN2022.

Then after a five years hiatus, on 24-25JUN2022, Oregon Air National Guard held its Sentry Eagle Open House and Airshow, over Kingsley Field. Of course, Oregon’s F-15C Eagles were the main attraction, especially the one named Sandman.

USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Jacob T. Stephens, 25JUN2022.

Then, in September 2022, it was officially revealed that Oregon’s Air National Guard was retiring all of its F-15C Eagles!

Quick excerpt from 173rd Fighter Wing video report, by Staff Sergeant Emily Copeland, even though it is dated 09SEP2022, and boasts of how great the F-15C is, it does not mention the 2022-23 retirement of those aircraft:

There will still be Eagles in the air over Oregon, the F-15Cs are being replaced with new build F-15EXs (aka Eagle-2), hopefully starting in 2024.

F-15 50th Anniversary: EAGLE GETS CANNIBALIZED, LEFTOVERS SENT TO THE BONEYARD, NO MORE OREGON EAGLES?

A large VFW mural honoring the 173rd Fighter Wing and its namesake, Lt. David R. Kingsley, in downtown Klamath Falls.

“We wanted to put mil-spec paint on the jet instead of the automotive paint that we dealt with last time. They don’t really make B-17 colors anymore so we had to put a special order. They have to shut down the production line and then do spray-outs and testing to make sure they are matching our federal paint standard codes.”-Master Sergeant Paul Allen

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Jennifer Shirar, 07JAN2020.

Official video report:

For Xmas 2019, Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing got a new paint job for their F-15C “Sandman” Eagle, but they had to go to Edwards Air Force Base, in California, to get it. Supposedly it’s because the paint facilities in Oregon couldn’t handled the custom paint job.

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Paul Allen, 20DEC2019.

The F-15 was painted with colors as close as possible to a World War Two Boeing B-17 bomber, which required olive drab, green and grey colors with a catalyst. It also has invasion stripes and star-n-bar insignia as seen on WW-2 USAAF fighters.

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Jennifer Shirar, 08JAN2020.

Relying on ground shipping services turned out to be a losing deal as only half the paint and half the catalyst was delivered. The paint supplier was located in the Los Angeles area so the team, who drove all the way down from Oregon, drove out to LA to get the orange color (as in OrANG, Oregon Air National Guard?). Turns out the paint shop at Edwards had enough of the other colors in stock to get the rest of the job done.

Oregon Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Paul Allen, 23DEC2019.

The paint job crew included Drew Sorlien, Tim Bodner, Cameron Curtin, Jeff Southern, and Derek Larman. It’s dedicated to Second Lieutenant David R. Kingsley, a radio operator on B-17s, killed in action on 23JUN1944, after a bombing mission over the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for taking off his parachute and strapping it on a wounded member of the crew. The 173rd Fighter Wing is based at Kingsley Field, named in honor of David Kingsley.