Mechanics were trained how to fix and maintain a different aircraft. Those who remained were retrained to fly the KC-135. Some retired rather than go through the conversion. Some pilots left to continue flying fighters at other bases. The conversion meant the loss of about 20 full-time jobs, many of which Miller said have since been regained, bringing the total number of full- and part-time employees at the base to 956. “Maintenance practices are still the same. “As long as the gates were going to stay open, we had the philosophy that we really didn’t care what we worked on,” he said. David Miller, the current command chief who was equipment maintenance branch chief at the time. The fighters may have been leaving, but at least their jobs weren’t going with them, said Chief Master Sgt. The announcement disappointed many on the base, but many others welcomed the tankers.
“But had we not converted when we did, there is a chance we wouldn’t even be open right now.” “I took the announcement of going from fighters to heavies about as well as a 4-year-old when his candy is taken away,” Miller said. Brian Miller, one of those affected fighter pilots, it’s the best thing that could have happened. When Iowa National Guard leaders announced in September 2000 that the 185th would convert from fighters to tankers, it wasn’t the most popular decision, especially among pilots who would go from flying at extreme speeds to cruising in the slow lane.īut looking back, said commander Col. Those big, bulky tankers resting at the 185th may not be as glamorous as the sleek fighting machines once housed here, but they represent something base personnel ultimately realized the fighters never could: security. The 185th will be in demand to carry fuel to aircraft around the globe as U.S. Just off that same runway, Herbold sat in the cockpit of the base’s present - and future. Tyson Herbold and his crew run through a series of preflight checks prior to firing up the engines on one of the 185th Air Refueling Wing’s KC-135 tanker jets.Īrriving for a paint job at the 185th’s paint shop Tuesday, the F-15s were a high-speed blast from the past, a reminder of the days when F-16 fighter jets based at the 185th flew over Sioux City almost daily. – Two fighter jets scream by overhead, then loop around and land at Sioux Gateway Airport.Īs the pair of F-15s roll past on the runway, Lt.
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