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Isn't Travis AFB for transport planes and tankers? This isn't like someone is buying land beside Groom Lake or Skunkworks...
by JimtheCoder 3y ago
Isn't Travis AFB for transport planes and tankers?
This isn't like someone is buying land beside Groom Lake or Skunkworks...
- cylinder714 3y agoYes, and it's also the home of E6-B Mercury "TACAMO" communications aircraft operated by the U.S. Navy: https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/military/navy-at-travis-quietly-keeps-communications-open-with-nations-submarines/ https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/milita... This unit pretty much represents the last remaining Navy presence in the Bay Area. Ironic, given the history of the Navy there, beginning with the establishment of the shipyard on Mare Island before the Civil War, and the first Navy radio station on the West Coast in 1904: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/technology/communications/radio/ug-21--us-naval-california-radio-station-collection/mare-island-naval-radio-station.html https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collec...
- cylinder714 3y agoInterestingly, for my fellow aviation buffs, the Navy is considering replacing the E-6Bs (built upon old Boeing C-135s—military 707s) with new C-130J planes, with stretched fuselage and those cool scimitar propellers. They're more fuel-efficient, I suspect, and they can operate out of rough airstrips. https://www.scramble.nl/military-news/breaking-c-130-tacamo-is-back https://www.scramble.nl/military-news/breaking-c-130-tacamo-...
- nicholasbraker 3y agoInterestingly the predecessors of the current E-6B TACAMO platform are C-130's also. These EC-130Q's were based on C-130H. Full circle again.
- nicholasbraker 3y agoBut they only have a small detachment there. The main E-6B/TACAMO stuff is at Tinker AFB Oklahoma