Hi y'all and greetings again from sunny Oklahoma City (OKC) where it is currently a mild minus four degrees C after a day which didn't get above zero.
As noted yesterday, today was a rest day, so we managed a great sleep-in till around 0900h. Maureen and I needed to sort out some hire car stuff for the second leg of our holiday which begins in just a few days, so we dropped the boys at the OKC Outlet stores just a few minutes up the road. After we completed the hire car stuff, we picked them up and all proceeded to Penn Square Mall, the largest shopping mall in OKC. Schuyler and I had other plans, we wanted to check out the Charles B. Hall Air Park at Tinker Air Force Base, the home of the US Air Force's AWAC (You will understand later) Fleet.
The Charles B. Hall Air Park is located just outside the front gate of Tinker Air Force Base and contains a number of military (Air Force and one Navy) aircraft out in the open air, free for the public to roam around. The highlight aircraft in the Air Park in my opinion are, the Boeing B-1B Lancer, Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, Boeing RB-47E Stratojet and Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
Here's some pics:
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| Me freezing in front of a Rockwell B-1B Lancer |
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| Rockwell B-1B Lancer |
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| Rockwell B-1B Lancer |
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| Rockwell B-1B Lancer |
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| Rockwell B-1B Lancer main undercarriage |
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| Vought A-7D Corsair II |
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| Vought A-7D Corsair II |
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| Republic F-105 Thunderchief (Iron Duke) |
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| Boeing RB-47E |
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| Boeing RB-47E |
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| Boeing RB-47E |
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| Boeing RB-47E |
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| Douglas C-47 Skytrain |
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| Grumman EA-6B Prowler |
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| Schuyler inspecting the intake of the Grumman EA-6B Prowler |
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| Boeing C-135C Stratolifter |
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| Boeing C-135C Stratolifter |
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| McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II |
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| Boeing B-29 Superfortress |
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| Boeing B-52D Stratofortress |
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| Boeing C-135C Stratolifter |
After walking through the Air Park, we decided to try our luck catching some of the current residential Tinker Air Force Base aircraft flying in and out of the Base. My research indicated that it is very difficult to be able to spot these aircraft, so we thought we'd try an area not so close to the Base with some excellent results. We spotted three different aircraft types flying around including; three US Navy E-6B Mercury airborne command post and communications relay aircraft, three E-3 Sentry AWAC (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft and two KC-135R Stratotankers. Interestingly all three aircraft types are based on the Boeing B707, though some would argue that
technically the KC-135 is an aircraft type in it's own right.
Here's the results of our new-found spotting location:
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| Boeing E-6B Mercury. This aircraft in the Navy Service conducts a mission called TACAMO - (Take Charge And Move Out) which entails conveying instructions from the National Command Authority to the Navy's Ballistic Missile Submarine fleet |
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| Boeing E-6B Mercury |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry AWAC |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry |
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| Boeing E-6B Mercury |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry |
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| Boeing E-6B Mercury |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry |
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| Boeing E-3C Sentry |
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| Boeing E-6B Mercury |
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| Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker |
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| Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker |
After our fun at the Air Park and spotting near Tinker Air Force Base, we headed to Chesapeake Arena to watch some Basketball (NBA). The game tonight was between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder won the game after trailing nearly the entire game. Here's a few shots from Kyle's phone:
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| Kyle gets an autograph from Dion Waiters (23)... |
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| ...and an autograph from Andre Roberson (21) |
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| Action from the game |
So despite being a rest day, we still managed to fit in quite a bit in OKC.
Well that ends my 30th straight report for this trip. Tomorrow we remain in OKC and are still planning what we can fit in.
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