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by graham luxton » Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:38 pm
Only one of those C-17's has been to Fairford before - 97-0041 on the 4th May'99, it was 437thAW back then as well. The total number of USAF C-17's to have visited Fairford now stands at 99 - not bad for a standby base.
Their arrival/departure over the weekend reminds me of another time when 4 C-17's supported a Buff deployment - on a very memorable Sunday 11th Oct'98. In a warning to Serbia, the 2ndBW rushed 6 B-52H's to Fairford arriving during the morning of Sun 11th. Support for this movement, in the shape of 4 C-17's started arriving mid afternoon about 3 - 4 hours after the last Buff landed. All the C-17's parked near the fence South side East of the Control Tower and gradually departed to Ramstein during the hours of darkness that evening - what a day that was!