Klamath Falls/Kingsley Field
Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 5:44 pm
In southern Oregon, this is the home of the 173rd FW, the other Oregon ANG F15 unit, which is primarily a training unit for the Eagles. Not a unit that I've seen many aircraft elsewhere and somewhere that I had wanted to visit for a number of years, and haven't seen many reports or photos from here. The older Eagles are now being retired and at some point the unit is supposed to switch to the F15EX, as are all the F15 ANG units.
The big problem is this place is a long way from anywhere sensible that we can easily fly in to directly (SFO or SEA), and my recent visits to ANG bases had mostly been disappointing. So there was a chance that a very long drive wouldn't yield much, fortunately it was great.
Klamath Falls is a moderate sized city in southern Oregon, close to Crater Lake (well worth a visIt too). The airport no longer has any scheduled services, but the small terminal is open during the day and there are various civil aircraft based here (including two smart-looking Jetstars). The ANG ramp is next to the terminal, the airport is pretty open and there's a nice relaxed atmosphere. There were five TacAir F15s flying with the ANG, these are ex Jordanian and came through St Augustine FL a few years ago.
I arrived at 1315 on a Tuesday, the first thing I saw was a very smart T28 outside a large hangar, the Beale T38 and C12 were nice visitors. And I could hear the Eagles running, six taxied out shortly afterwards and were joined by two TacAir F5s. They returned between 1500 and 1530, with a few overshoots and touch & goes, and that was it for the day.
The next morning, the Eagles started up around 0915 and over the following 45 minutes I watched the departures of eight F15s and four F5s, these had all returned by about 1145. Most of the Eagles that were visible flew, including the colour bird on the Wednesday morning. Everything took off to the south and landed from the north, which meant that my landing shots were better than my takeoffs, because you are much closer to the action.
P1030004 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6584 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6583 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6586 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6623 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6661 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6663 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6681 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6686 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6709 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6796 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6803 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6808 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6816 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6819 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6823 by david santhouse, on Flickr
IMG_6846 by david santhouse, on Flickr
The big problem is this place is a long way from anywhere sensible that we can easily fly in to directly (SFO or SEA), and my recent visits to ANG bases had mostly been disappointing. So there was a chance that a very long drive wouldn't yield much, fortunately it was great.
Klamath Falls is a moderate sized city in southern Oregon, close to Crater Lake (well worth a visIt too). The airport no longer has any scheduled services, but the small terminal is open during the day and there are various civil aircraft based here (including two smart-looking Jetstars). The ANG ramp is next to the terminal, the airport is pretty open and there's a nice relaxed atmosphere. There were five TacAir F15s flying with the ANG, these are ex Jordanian and came through St Augustine FL a few years ago.
I arrived at 1315 on a Tuesday, the first thing I saw was a very smart T28 outside a large hangar, the Beale T38 and C12 were nice visitors. And I could hear the Eagles running, six taxied out shortly afterwards and were joined by two TacAir F5s. They returned between 1500 and 1530, with a few overshoots and touch & goes, and that was it for the day.
The next morning, the Eagles started up around 0915 and over the following 45 minutes I watched the departures of eight F15s and four F5s, these had all returned by about 1145. Most of the Eagles that were visible flew, including the colour bird on the Wednesday morning. Everything took off to the south and landed from the north, which meant that my landing shots were better than my takeoffs, because you are much closer to the action.
P1030004 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6584 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6583 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6586 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6623 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6661 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6663 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6681 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6686 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6709 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6796 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6803 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6808 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6816 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6819 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6823 by david santhouse, on FlickrIMG_6846 by david santhouse, on Flickr
