Hurricane Michael

[MRTT]

Reports on Twitter suggest that Tyndall AFB has received significant damage, with power lines being brought down and hangar roofs being blown off.

Gate guard F-15 also appears to have been upturned.

[Surrey Sam]

This was posted on their Facebook page last night:

Tyndall Air Force Base took a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. The base has sustained extensive damage. The Ride Out Element will conduct initial damage assessments when it is safe to do so.

Michael was a Category 4 hurricane when it made landfall, with catastrophic wind speeds.

There have been no injuries reported on Tyndall at this time.

Teams will work diligently to recover the base in the coming weeks. The storm brought down trees and power lines. It removed roofs from buildings and caused significant structural damage.

The conditions of the runway is unknown at this time.

The base commander ordered a mandatory evacuation of base personnel Monday, Oct. 8. This evacuation order remains in effect until further notice. Evacuated personnel should make plans for an extended time away from the base. Base officials do not have an estimate at this time for when it will be safe to return.

[hvaneupen]

Video and photos via WXChasing: https://youtu.be/plUGQqJROJI

Gate guard F-15A is 74-0095/TY "325FW". In Callaway Veteran Centre F-15A 77-0146/TY was blown over.

74-0095 in happier day's (2007):

[reach1]

Hangar roof missing number of QF-16 inside and F-22s damage assessment ongoing but don,t look good from first photos

[Supra]

I saw the QF-16 jets at 2:18 into video, together with Mitsubishi MU-2 turbo-props that Police the no-fly Range exclusion as required. Missed any F-22 aircraft. Please direct me to images?

[Surrey Sam]

Top left of the screen at 2:39 in the video. You can see something that resembles the back end of an F22.

[tm74sqn]

Not convinced - would an F-22 be in the same hangar as QF-16s and some civilian-looking aircraft?

[MRTT]

Yes, it was a Raptor. A number of other F-22s have been damaged also.

[Gary]

The Yanks spotters are reporting 10 F-22s might have been affected with 3 F-22s destroyed. Its all rumours and hearsay so far though

[T_J]

Image of one F-22 inside a damaged hangar at following link

https://defence-blog.com/news/f-22-rapt ... icane.html

[ChrisCwmbran]

Looking at the amount of mess around the base I'm surprised it isn't being blamed on non-dedicated aviation enthusiasts from Lakenheath...…..

[quid21]

Not convinced - would an F-22 be in the same hangar as QF-16s and some civilian-looking aircraft?

If there was a hurricane coming, and I was base commander I'd want to put all aircraft that can't fly out in the strongest hangars possible. So why not put them in with other equipment? At the end of the day I'd imagine they would want to protect them as much as possible.

[adderman]

Hi Folks
Quote> I'd want to put all aircraft that can't fly out in the strongest hangars possible. So why not put them in with other equipment? At the end of the day I'd imagine they would want to protect them as much as possible.<unquote.

That would depend on when the Tyndall hangars were constructed, regulations for building work may have been different when these were assembled.
Don't think the US will ever go down the route of building HAS' on front line bases.

Same problem happened at Homestead FL many years ago though I don't know if any aircraft were lost.

Mike

[mustang5861]

Saturday night's US TV news and today's New York Times newspaper reported that not a single building on the base was left undamaged by the hurricane, with stormproof roofs just a few months old being peeled away in 130mph winds. The overall impact on the base is described as 'widespread catastrophic damage', though the runway is now open.

An Air Force spokesperson, Major Malinda Singleton, is quoted as saying that 'at least' 33 of the 55 F-22s based at Tyndall were flown out to Wright-Patterson AFB prior to the hit, but she would not confirm the status of the other 22. Aircraft damaged on the base are said to include one F-22 and five QF-16s, the aircraft that did not make it out having been held in Hangar 5 (severe damage) and a smaller hangar (door(s) and a wall destroyed). Additionally, three 'twin-engined' aircraft belonging to a contractor were severely damaged or destroyed. Major Singleton: 'We anticipate the aircraft parked inside [the hangars] may be damaged as well, but we won't know the extent until our crews can safely enter these hangars and make an assessment.'