The jet engines are roaring again at Offutt Air Force Base.
One by one, eight of the 55th Wing’s RC-135 reconnaissance variant aircraft landed on the newly rebuilt airstrip Friday afternoon after a short hop from their temporary home in Lincoln.
In command of one of the wing’s training aircraft, Col. Kristen Thompson, the commander of the 55th Wing, had the honor of making the first landing at 2:08 p.m.
It was the first landing at Offutt in 18 months, since the start of a complete reconstruction of the base’s only 2-mile-long runway.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re finally here!” Thompson told a crowd of about 600 55th Wing Airmen, veterans and their families.
He turned the event into a wing party. The Heartland of America Band entertained. There was a military working dog demonstration, food trucks and bounce houses for the kids.
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Rebuilding the 80-year-old runway cost the Air Force $200 million: $169 million to replace the runway and neighboring apron and $31 million to renovate the temporary office and space the hangar at Lincoln Airport.
“Today we just went from having the oldest and worst runway in the Air Force, to the newest and best,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a former commander of the 55th Wing.
The runway was originally built in 1941 for the new Glenn L. Martin Fire Station, where Nebraska workers produced more than 2,000 airplanes during World War II. It was extended to its current length in the mid-1950s to accommodate jet aircraft from the Strategic Air Command.
Since then, Bacon said, the Air Force has fixed the runway every decade or so. But when he commanded the 55th Wing in 2011-12, he was in terrible shape.
He recalled one occasion when a plane carrying a visiting four-star general had to go around the airfield to await repairs that had suddenly become necessary.
“How can you make an 80-year-old track work? You can’t,” Bacon said.
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer said she has been working to secure military and congressional support for the runway’s reconstruction since taking office. He said that when he visited the base, 55th Wing commanders would give him pieces of broken runway concrete to take back to Washington.
“It was clear the track was a mess. It was in bad shape,” he said. “It’s been a long, long road since then. But our efforts and our defense have paid off.”
Gen. Mark Kelly, who heads the 55th Wing’s Air Combat Command’s parent command, praised the collective effort that got the runway built and kept the wing operating from Lincoln unabated.
He said 55th Wing crews flew 1,800 sorties during the year and a half of construction, at a time when rising global tensions made their mission more critical than ever.
“It took a whole village to make it happen,” Kelly said. “Offutt is a Cold War veteran. We need him to be that veteran today.”
The 55th Wing’s Senior Production Superintendent, Master Sgt. Mitchell Morelos and his team of aircraft maintainers bore the brunt of the hardships. Commuting there from Lincoln for more than a normal service day “has taken its toll,” he said.
Not only that, they often had to transport specialized tools and equipment to Lincoln. Hangar space was at a premium.
“Our guys were out there, rain, snow or shine, working outside every day,” Morelos said. “It’s an absolute morale booster to give them back.”
Thompson described the runway closure as part of a “terrible trifecta” of difficulties the 55th Wing has faced over the past three years, along with the catastrophic flooding in March 2019 that caused damage by about $1 billion and the COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted it. jobs and schedules.
“Today we tick off one of those trifectas on the list,” he said. “The track is back.”
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