173rd Fighter Wing Commander, Col. Lee ‘Bangkok’ Bouma, completed his final flight in the F-15 Eagle, and was honored with a retreat ceremony Nov. 1 at Kingsley Field. Good luck in retirement,
Tag: F-15 McDonnell Douglas
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Lt. Col. Joel Thesing Fini Flight
In September 2024 the 142nd Wing bid farewell to Lt. Col. Joel Thesing as he completed his final flight in the F-15 EX and subsequently retired from the Air National Guard. Congratulations, Sir!
By Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Farrell, 159th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
BELLE CHASSE, La. – Significant flying milestones were recently achieved by three F-15 fighter pilots with the 159th Fighter Wing, Louisiana Air National Guard based at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans.
After flying a routine training mission on May 10, Col. David “Ripper” Anderson, commander, 159 FW, landed his fighter jet to the cheers of gathered family members and fellow 159th Airmen as he reached 3,000 flight hours in the F-15 Eagle. Anderson is the only (current) pilot in the 159th to have flown 3,000 hours and one of an elite few in the unit’s history to accomplish such a prestigious milestone.
“I am extremely appreciative for the opportunity to fly the F-15C over the past 20 years,” said Anderson. “The Eagle is an amazing aircraft and the air superiority mission provided experiences to fly the jet all over the world. Our maintenance, logistics, and support Airmen deserve the credit for producing combat capable aircraft to safely fly more than two thousand sorties to get to 3,000 hours. I’m proud to have reached the 3,000 hours milestone and I know that it wouldn’t happen without the great team that I serve with and my family at home.”
This past Spring two command pilots, also with the 159th, reached the 2,000-hour milestone. Lt. Col. Joshua “Tito” Higgins, deputy commander, 159 FW, reached 2,000 hours in the F-15 Eagle while flying a training mission at NAS JRB New Orleans.
“It was an amazing experience as it was a culmination of all the hours of the various variants of the F-15 that I’ve flown.” said Higgins. “I’m looking forward to flying the newest F-15EX here in the near future as the 159 FW transitions to the new airframe which will better position us in the great power competition.”
The third command pilot to reach an F-15 flying milestone, Lt. Col. Cody “Viking” Clark, commander, 159th Operations Group, reached 2,000 flight hours this past January while deployed with the 159 FW in Okinawa, Japan.
“I was honored to be able to log my 2000th Eagle hour at Kadena AB, Okinawa Japan while deployed in support of our PACAF TSP operating out of the 67th Fighting Cocks Squadron,” said Clark. “It was very nostalgic for me because that location and squadron was also where I logged my very first operational flight hour in the F-15C nearly 15 years prior.”
Congratulations to all three 159 FW pilots for achieving these prestigious milestones in their flying careers. The highly trained, mission dedicated Airmen of the 159 FW stand ready to fulfil the U.S Air Force’s mission to “fly, fight, and win – airpower anytime, anywhere.”
Col. Christopher Clark, 144th Fighter Wing commander, flew his fini flight in the F-15 Eagle with the 144th fighter Wing at the Fresno Air National Guard Base, California, May 23, 2024. Col Clark chose to fly in the Heritage Jet with its one-of-a-kind, red-white-and-blue paint scheme. Congratulations, Sir! (photos by Maj. Jason Sanchez)
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104FW attend WIC at Nellis AFB
104th FW/PA
BARNES AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Massachusetts – Members of the 104th Fighter Wing attended the two-week USAF weapons school integration exercise from April 6, 2024, to April 20, 2024, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. This exercise combined multiple squadrons to test and determine the functionality of new air combat tactics through offensive and defensive counterair measures while using both fourth-generation and fifth-generation aircraft.
Maj. James ‘Mongoose’ Hurley, 131st Fighter Squadron Weapons Officer, stressed the significance of the exercise through the potential for fourth generation fighter units to provide air combat support to fifth-generation aircraft for future missions.
“We received an invite from the 433rd Weapons Squadron and the 17th Weapons Squadron there for the F-22 Raptor and F-15E Strike Eagle, respectively,” said Hurley. “Our role within the exercise was to integrate with them to focus on advanced-threat defensive counterair the first week and offensive counterair the second week. Overall, our goal here was to provide the sensor, as well as the fourth-generation role in that against fourth and fifth-generation fighter integration.”
Providing fourth-generation fighter F-15 support in the exercise effectively enables the Air Force to practice and analyze the validity of the new air tactics listed in the Air, Land, Sea, and Space application fighter integration doctrine. This also enables the weapons school students at Nellis to learn these new tactics and be able to teach them to their respective future units when they graduate.
“Helping to be the platform that validates the new tactics, whether its operational tests or the weapons school is great,” said Hurley. “But when you bring in units like us who are going to be the ones to get called on to do it, it’s crucial we have invaluable experience in practicing it.”
By having as many as 25-30 sorties per day, the Air Force can effectively analyze how fourth-generation fighters can provide critical support to fifth-generation fighters through combat and tactics integration.
“While the fifth-generation fighters are certainly capable, they are limited in their gas and missiles,” said Hurley. “If we talk about how fourth-generation can to enable that, we have extra missiles, extra sensors that we can use to support them, in so doing making everyone more lethal and survivable than they would be if they were doing so standalone.”
The exercise provided the 104FW with valuable lessons and experience in practicing integrating with the weapons school students and having the ability to sit through their brief, debrief, and mission planning. Through this integration, the Air Force is better equipped to test, validate, and adjust.
“It’s definitely a valuable experience to get to learn the latest tactics they’re coming out with from the weapons school,” said Hurley. “The validation of the new tactics manual and just learning exactly how best to do it with the changes happening daily as we progress and work our way closer to what looks right. Overall, this was the most useful temporary duty assignment I’ve been on, tactically speaking since I’ve been here.”