The day before Halloween, the first of three retired KC-10 Extenders began its mummification by AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) at Davis-Monthan Air
Force Base, Arizona.
Photo by Master Sergeant Joseph Vigil.
On 13JUL2020, a KC-10 (tail #86-0036) based at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, became the first KC-10 in the U.S. Air Force inventory to be officially retired. Congress approved the retirement of three KC-10s in anticipation of eventual replacement of 59 KC-10s by the new KC-46A Pegasus.
Photo by Staff Sergeant Sean Evans.
Tail #86-0036 takes off on its last flight, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst from to the graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 13JUL2020.
Photo by Airman First Class Sean Hetz.
Final flight video by Master Sergeant Joseph Vigil (edited by me):
Time lapse video by Staff Sergeant Giovanni Sims, KC-10 mummification on 30OCT2020:
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Sean Martin, 05NOV2017.
Begun under the Barack Obama administration, the UH-60A program for Afghanistan is now drastically scaled back under the Donald Trump administration, due to lack of the Black Hawk’s performance in Afghanistan, a shift in priorities within the U.S. Department of Defense, and the high cost to U.S. taxpayers.
A former U.S. Army Black Hawk is loaded onto a C-17 transport, bound for Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Adriane Elliot, 15SEP2017.
September 2017, the first batch of UH-60As for Afghanistan are unloaded from a C-17 Globemaster-3, at Kandahar Air Field.
Photo by Staff Sergeant Trevor McBride.
Video by Senior Airmen Ryan Green, UH-60A flight training, November 2017:
By February 2018, the Afghan Air Force had eight UH-60 Blackhawks.
By March 2018, U.S. military officials were boasting the UH-60 program was “mission ready”. Video of more flight training by John Roberts:
USA photo by Major Richard Barker, 06MAY2018.
By May 2018, the first large class of Afghan UH-60A crews had completed the Mission Qualification Course (MQC). Video by Jackie Faye showing Afghan UH-60s taking off on their first official mission one day after the MQC graduation:
Another former USA UH-60 Black Hawk bound for Afghanistan, this time on 25APR2019, transported by Ukrainian An-124 transport. USA photo by Richard Bumgardner.
Photo by Airman First Class Jayden Ford, 22SEP2020.
In September 2020, C-130s were painted in ‘heritage’ colors to represent some of the first aircraft flown by the U.S. Air Force’s 41st and 61st Airlift Squadrons. The paint schemes included a camo tail, a pre-World War Two yellow tail, and a Cold War dayglo orange/red tail.
Photo by Airman First Class Jayden Ford, 22SEP2020.
The paint-job was handled by the 19th Maintenance Squadron on Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas.
Photo by Staff Sergeant Jeremy McGuffin, 08OCT2020.
On 08OCT2020, USAF and Arkansas National Guard C-130s showed off their new paint jobs, en masse.
Video report by Airman First Class Jayden Ford, explaining the history of the 41st and 61st Airlift Squadrons:
65th anniversary video by Master Sergeant Jason Armstrong:
Photo by Airman First Class Isaiah Miller, 08OCT2020.
USAF photo by Photo by Airman Joshua Maund, 04SEP2015.
Dayglo paint/oil is not only used to make things like vehicles stand-out, it’s also used to make defects in structural components stand-out. It’s a type of non-destructive inspection (NDI).
U.S. Army photo by Ervey Martinez, 18SEP2020.
The ‘penetrant’ paint/oil soaks into any cracks revealing the defects.
Magnetic particle inspection using a black-light.
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Cecilio Ricardo.
This Airman is using a blacklight to inspect a bolt.
The term dayglo originates from the name of a paint company whose primary customers were retail advertisers, but that changed with a big boost from the U.S. Department of War (established 1789-1947) during World War Two, a military supply contract which lasted through the undeclared Cold War (and beyond). Ironically during the Cold War decades, the company was not only getting business from the U.S. National Military Establishment (1947-1949) and U.S. Department of Defense (1949-present), but from the hippie-dippie peace movement by selling its neon paints to producers of peace posters and music industry advertising. In 1969 the company first known as Fluor-S-Art, then as Switzer Brothers (in honor of the founders), changed its name to Day-Glo Paint Corporation. In 1985, Day-Glo was sold to Nalco Chemical Company, and today it boasts of being the world’s largest producer of florescent colors.
According to California’s San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, on 19SEP2020 the crew of Old Glory reported a mechanical problem and made an emergency landing in a Stockton farm field. The emergency landing turned into a crash landing after the old bomber got tripped-up by an irrigation ditch. The three crewmen suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Photo via San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
News reports stated that this was the second time the restored combat veteran had crashed. The first time was near Reno, Nevada, in 1987. The dedicated owners spent 18-thousand hours repairing and restoring the damaged B-25, completing the job in 1995. It was then that B-25N 44-28938 got the name Old Glory.
Old Glory on Honolulu, Hawaii, 25AUG2020. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Gabriel Davis.
Towards the end of 2019, Old Glory was purchased by The Prescott Foundation-Hanger743 of New York. During WW2 it operated over the Mediterranean with the 12th Army Air Force (specific squadron still unknown). Following the war it was converted to TB-25N radio navigation trainer, then to a waterbomber. In 1978, B-25N 44-28938 began its current career as a flying museum exhibit, under the pseudonyms Dream Lover and Spirit of Tulsa.
Old Glory take-off in Hawaii, end of August 2020, video by Austin Rooney. Unfortunately there is no audio:
The Prescott Foundation states they are cooperating with the NTSB’s (National Transportation Safety Board) investigation into the crash of Old Glory.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman First Class Ryan J. Sonnier, 16SEP2019.
What it is like flying on Old Glory, end of August 2020, video by Private Carlie Lopez (edited by me):
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jaimar Carson Bondurant.
These photos were taken in the late 1950s by the father-in-law to Russel Sharp.
Russel Sharp (the guy in the uniform) was a crew chief (aka maintainer) and flight engineer on B-25s flown by SAC, out of Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.
Between 1954 and 1959, U.S. Air Force SAC used the World War Two U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchells as trainers for incoming nuclear bomber crews. Doctor John Garrett, 17th Training Wing historian, explains that “This specific aircraft was built in 1944 and was converted in 1945 from a bomber to a trainer model. It flew as a trainer until 1959 and its last years were in Dyess. This plane was kept downtown in San Angelo, and in 1983 Charlie Powell, former wing commander, rescued it from San Angelo.”
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Scott Jackson, 02AUG2017.
On 02AUG2017, Russel Sharp returned to Goodfellow AFB to check-out the B-25 gate guard installed near Jacobson Gate. Going by the tail number it is the same B-25 that Sharp spent more than 9-hundred hours flying on. Sharp said the connection was made when an old Air Force buddie saw the gate guard and was sure the tail number was the same.
Video interview by Airman First Class Jessica Ray:
12 October 2020 / 10:27 (UTC-07 Tango 06)/ 21 Mehr 1399/24 Safar 1442/26 Bing-Xu 4718
Incomplete list of links to official reports from around the world:
David Nabarro, World Health Organization special envoy for CoViD-19, warned in 08OCT2020 video interview, with the Spectator’s The Week in 60 Minutes, admits that nobody knows how to properly respond to CoViD and that lockdowns could be worse than the pandemic: “We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control….. …..lockdowns have just one consequence….making poor people an awful lot poorer.”
UNITED STATES: “You’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression. You’re going to lose people. You’re going to have suicides by the thousands.”-President Donald Trump, 24MAR2020, regarding a possible national lockdown
05OCT2020 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers video report, by Michael Glasch, revealing that responding to natural disasters is being made more complicated due to CoViD-19 restrictions:
Arizona National Guard delivers a trailer full of food and supplies to the Navajo Nation, 06OCT2020. Since the beginning of the outbreak the Arizona National Guard took over transportation of food throughout the state.
Arizona National Guard stock the shelves of a food pantry in Sun City, 09OCT2020. Since the beginning of the outbreak in the U.S., the Arizona National Guard took over civilian food operations across the state.
A sign your system has failed; 08OCT2020 video report by Staff Sergeant Eddie Siguenza, California National Guard delivers record 100-million meals to people due to CoViD lockdown:
04OCT2020, video report by Staff Sergeant Bradley Tipton, U.S. Reserve military units from Florida talk about sudden call-up to deploy to NYC for new massive lockdown operations:
05OCT2020, Texas National Guard taking part in food growing operations in San Antonio, as part of Joint Task Force Longhorn. Texas mobilized its Guard units in April 2020, for CoViD-19 response.
CoViD-19 fearmongering restrictions kill-off more restaurants in Eastern Idaho (some of those fearmongering restrictions are the fault of the restaurant owners themselves, one Asian style buffet in Pocatello is now open only four days per week and requires you to wear a mask, except when you are actually shoveling food into your mouth, and if you don’t have a mask they force you to buy one of theirs)
“You’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression. You’re going to lose people. You’re going to have suicides by the thousands.”-President Donald Trump, 24MAR2020, regarding a possible national lockdown
Below is an incomplete list of links to some of the many real news media reports about the suicidal impact of coronavirus 2019 lockdowns.
Kentucky: Operations and Planning officer Joel Tiotuico claims that he worked on a 2007 flu pandemic war game/table-top scenario, at Fort Knox, which is eerily similar to what is happening with CoViD-19. The original article about the 2007 flu pandemic wargame was published in the now defunct Turret newspaper.
National Guard photos by Second Lieutenant Anna Doo and Sergeant John Montoya. Videos by Second Lieutenant Anna Doo and Sergeant Zechariah Freeman. Dig photos via New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Image
In October 2015, the New Mexico Army National Guard was called-up for a mission unlike any other; sling-load a 65-million years old baby Pentaceratops out of the desert: “This ranks very high in the importance of Pentaceratops discoveries because it is the first baby skeleton, including the skull, ever recovered, and one of less than 10 adult Pentaceratops skulls unearthed.”-Spencer Lucas, Chief Curator of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
The baby three horned dinosaur was actually discovered back in 2011, in the Bisti/De-na-zin Wilderness Area south of Farmington. In 2013, an adult was found in the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness Study Area, 10 miles (16 kilometers) away. The paleontologists had a problem; no wheeled vehicles are allowed in those federally controlled areas, and once encased in protective plaster, the two dinosaur skeletons could weight as much as one U.S. ton.
In 2014, administrators with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, New Mexico National Guard, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, agreed to airlift the bones using UH-60 Blackhawks from New Mexico National Guard’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation.
It took four hours to position just the encased baby skeleton for sling-load by the Blackhawk: “The process, since it was an unconventional load, took some different planning. We had the right personnel here and were able to brainstorm together. There was never really a set way that we had. We knew once we got in there we’d take a look at everything and figure out the best option. My favorite part was getting the jackets onto the sling loads. That was something we hadn’t had experience with and we knew it was going to be a difficult process. That was our biggest hurdle. Once we got past that we knew we had the capability to do everything else that we needed to.”-Staff Sergeant Jonathon Velarde, 1st Battalion-200th Infantry, National Guard site leader at the Bisti location
But when the day came for the airlift, it was discovered that the plaster surrounding the baby and adult Pentaceratops skeletons were water damaged from recent rain storms and could not be airlifted, only the skulls could be sling-loaded. However, it was soon discovered that the plaster jacketed skulls were much heavier than estimated. The Blackhawk crew trying to lift the adult skull reported it weighed 5-thousand-5-hundred pounds (2494.8 kilograms) and the UH-60 was not able to safely lift it. The jacketed baby skull weighed 4-thousand-5-hundred pounds (2041 kilograms), more than twice the estimate.
To make the lift the Blackhawk helicopters flew around burning off expensive fuel to lighten themselves. Keep in mind that the National Guard personnel on the ground, heaving the heavy skulls into positions, even pushing one uphill, were unaware that they were dealing with weights that were more than twice what they were expecting.
Video, baby skull flip:
Apparently it took two days (28-29OCT2015) of struggling to position the two skulls for sling-load.
Video, adult skull flip:
Video interview, Staff Sergeant Jonathon Velarde explains the proper positioning of the sling-load net:
Video, skull lift:
Video, incoming skull:
The skulls were flown out of the ground vehicle restricted areas to a location where a M984 HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) was waiting to take them to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: “The mission went really well and it was good training for the traditional Soldiers. The mission was accomplished and everyone was safe. We were able to really show the capabilities of the National Guard as far as our air assets, the Infantry piece as far as them having to go out there and rig it, and our transportation assets as far as being able to move it, as well as working with the civilians and the general public.”-First Lieutenant Jerome Bustamante, 116th Transportation Company, New Mexico National Guard
Lockheed’s fast transport C-141 was designed according to Cold War requirements in 1960, and first flew in 1963. It was the world’s first turbofan powered military transport aircraft: “The C-141 has a noble record of achievement in its support of the U.S. military. Participating in every military operation from Vietnam to Iraqi Freedom, StarLifter crews have also performed humanitarian relief flights to nearly 70 countries on six continents. Most recently, the StarLifter served those affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The aircraft has served NASA, conducted Antarctic resupply flights for nearly three decades and has been a key asset for flight research serving science for two decades.”-Ross Reynolds, Lockheed Martin vice president of Air Mobility
USAF photo from July 1966, Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-141A (short) on Tan Son Nhut Airbase, Viet Nam.
Quick silent film, by somebody with last name of Anderson, of iconic comedian Bob Hope arriving in Korea, via a C-141A, for one of his famous USO Christmas shows, 27DEC1970:
C-141As loaded with former prisoners of war (PoW), leaving Viet Nam for the United States, March 1973.
Silent U.S. Army film, by somebody with the last name of Fraser, showing soldiers with The Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) boarding C-141As outbound for wargame ReForGer (Return of Forces to Germany) in West Germany, October 1973 (with some film of USAF cargo ops tacked on at the end, obviously filmed during warmer months):
Silent U.S. Navy film, by Todd Thompson, showing the arrival of a C-141A on U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Philippines, to pick-up refugees from Viet Nam and fly them to the United States, 29APR1975:
It was quickly realized that the C-141A had enough power to transport far more than what could be crammed into its slim cargo hold. It was decided to stretch the fuselage by 23 feet, creating the YC-141B.
Comparison of C-141A to YC-141B. The ‘B’ version also got inflight refueling apparatus.
Photo via author’s collection.
From the Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) Photo Shop, YC-141B aerial refueling test over the Mojave Desert, California, Spring 1977.
The stretching of 270 C-141As took place from 1977 to 1982, first deliveries began in 1979.
Photo via author’s collection.
In this photo you can see the unpainted fuselage ‘plug’ used to extend the C-141As into C-141Bs, as well as the aerial refueling sections.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Robert C. Marshall, July 1980.
C-141A still in use, Norton AFB, California, July 1980.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Bob Fehringer, 31OCT1980.
Fans of the movie The Thing, yes there is a McMurdo Station, and C-141As went there, in 1980, as part of Operation Deep Freeze.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Rose Reynolds.
Sometime in the early to mid 1980s, a C-141B leaves Travis AFB, California.
Unknown photographer, 26OCT1983.
During the U.S. invasion of Grenada (aka Operation Urgent Fury) in October 1983, C-141s not only brought in ground troops, but took out U.S. citizens who were taking college courses on the island.
Photo by Robert C. Keffer, 25OCT1983.
Also in October 1983, the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, was blown-up by a suicide bomber driving a truck full of explosives. C-141s also acted as flying hospitals, flying wounded Marines back to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany.
Whatever happened to the N(for NASA)C-141A #12777 ‘The Gambler’, a test aircraft for experimental ECM equipment destined for the B-1B and B-2 bombers? (click here and find out the ugly truth)
In 1986, climate problems caused a hay shortage for farmers in the Southeastern U.S. C-141s were used to transport 170 tons of hay from the Mid-Western states, in just one day of Operation Haylift. This video shows President Ronald Reagan kicking-off the first day of Op Haylift, 24JUL1986:
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Theodore J. Koniares, May/June 1987.
Oops, a C-141B ran off the runway on Marine Corp Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, sometime in Summer(?) 1987.
February 1991, Operation Desert Storm. U.S. military personnel pass by a Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-141B (C-5 Galaxy in the background) somewhere (“undisclosed location”) on the Arabian Peninsula. According to McChord Air Museum, Washington, during Operations Desert Shield-Desert Storm USAF C-141s were landing every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 7 months in Saudi Arabia.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Theodore J. Koniares, 22JUN1994.
Two M113 Personnel Carriers are loaded into a C-141B, on Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, for deployment to Uganda for United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ duty, 22JUN1994.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Val Gempis, 03AUG1994.
C-141B delivers humanitarian aid to Rwanda refugees in Zaire, August 1994.
In 1996, NC-141A #12776, based on Edwards AFB, became the ‘Electric Starlifter’ with fly-by-wire controls. In the 1990s, 63 C-141Bs were upgraded to C-141Cs with the latest in digital equipment.
NASA photo by Tom Tschida, 20DEC1997.
In December 1997 a C-141A was used by NASA to tow a QF-106 to high altitude before release, to test the feasibility of similar launching of future space vehicles. It was called Project Eclipse. C-141A #12775 is now at the Air Mobility Command Museum.
NC-141A #12779 with ‘universal radar nose’, wasting away on the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum’s South Base flightline, in California.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2000.
Upgraded ‘glass cockpit’ of a C-141C, September 2000, during a ‘Project Trans-Am’ mission.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ken Bergmann, 12OCT2001.
A Tennessee Air National Guard C-141 gets loaded with war gear on U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, in NATO Italy, for the start of the undeclared War on Terror (Operation Enduring Freedom), October 2001.
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2005.
Hurricane Rita final hours of an air evacuation from the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, onboard a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Starlifter.
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2005.
Video report by Airman First Class Kahdija Slaughter, January 2015. Preserving the Starlifter Gate Guard at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina:
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Bryan Hull, 06AUG2016.
Kelsey Schmidt, Miss Washington 2016, rechristens ‘gate guard’ Tacoma Starlifter, (#65-0277) on Heritage Hill, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (click here to see Sandra Marth, Miss Washington 1966, christen Tacoma Starlifter the first time). Tacoma Starlifter first arrived on Lewis-McChord in August 1966 and took part in 1973’s Operation Homecoming, bringing Prisoners of War (PoW) back home to the U.S. from Viet Nam. The last C-141 stationed on Lewis-McChord was retired in April 2002.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Zachary Martyn, 07APR2017.
Airman conduct weekly inspections of ‘gate guards’, like The Garden State Starlifter, on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Video report by Staff Sergeant John Ayre, April 2015, 50th anniversary of Golden Bear:
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Liliana Moreno, 30MAR2018.
‘War on Terror’ veteran Brandon Jones and his service dog, Apache, pose in front of Golden Bear on Travis Air Force Base, California.
Video report by Kenneth Wright, October 2018. History of the C-141 from the viewpoint of the personnel of the 349th Air Mobility Wing (formerly Military Airlift Wing), U.S. Air Force Reserve on Travis AFB, California:
Arizona National Guard delivers a trailer full of food and supplies to the Navajo Nation, 06OCT2020. Since the beginning of the outbreak the Arizona National Guard took over transportation of food throughout the state.
Arizona National Guard stock the shelves of a food pantry in Sun City, 09OCT2020. Since the beginning of the outbreak in the U.S., the Arizona National Guard took over civilian food operations across the state.
Operations and Planning officer Joel Tiotuico claims that he worked on a 2007 flu pandemic war game/table-top scenario, at Fort Knox, which is eerily similar to what is happening with CoViD-19. The original article about the 2007 flu pandemic wargame was published in the now defunct Turret newspaper.
Comparison of C-141A to YC-141B. The ‘B’ version also got inflight refueling apparatus.
In this photo you can see the unpainted fuselage ‘plug’ used to extend the C-141As into C-141Bs, as well as the aerial refueling sections.
NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) modified a C-141A into an airborne space observation vehicle in 1975. 
In 1996, NC-141A #12776, based on Edwards AFB, became the ‘Electric Starlifter’ with fly-by-wire controls. In the 1990s, 63 C-141Bs were upgraded to C-141Cs with the latest in digital equipment.
NC-141A #12779 with ‘universal radar nose’, wasting away on the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum’s South Base flightline, in California.
