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  • Fairchild and Air Force History (Jan. 30 - Feb. 4)

    Listed below are significant historical events that occurred during the week of 29 Jan - 4 Feb at Fairchild Air Force Base.Jan. 31, 1998: In support of U.S. national security objectives in the Persian Gulf, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing deployed personnel for Operation Phoenix Scorpion II.Feb. 1, 1996: The 92nd Comptroller Squadron was

  • Former Fairchild commander passes away Dec. 19

    Col. Donald L. Keplinger, United States Air Force (retired) passed away Dec. 19, 2009, in Mesa, Ariz., surrounded by his family and listening to Sinatra's Come Fly with Me. Colonel Keplinger was the 92nd Bombardment Wing commander at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., from June 1971 to April 1973. He loved the Spokane area and lived at Fairchild, the

  • Fairchild’s name 56 years old

    On July 20, 1951, Spokane Air Force Base was officially named Fairchild during a base dedication ceremony. The base was named for Gen. Muir S. Fairchild, former Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force and a Bellingham, Wash., native. The keynote speaker at the event was supposed to be Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Air Force Chief of Staff, but he had to
  • FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- On June 28, 1957, the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron, then located at Castle Air Force Base, Calif., received the world’s first jet tanker, the KC-135 Stratotanker, and was tasked with training all Strategic Air Command crew members in the new aircraft. (Courtesy photo)

    50 Years Ago - 93rd ARS receives USAF's first KC-135

    Last August, the Air Force celebrated the 50th anniversary of the roll-out of the KC-135 Stratotanker. Fairchild held a week-long celebration, to include a heritage flight involving local civic leaders and media. It was an appropriate homage to the venerable aircraft that has meant so much to this nation and this wing. But roll-out of an aircraft

  • Why is that road on base called “Bong” Street?

    Bong Street is named after Richard I. Bong, America's "Ace of Aces." While flying the P-38 fighter in the Pacific during World War II, Bong achieved 40 aerial victories, the most by any pilot in U.S. history. Bong grew up on a farm in Poplar, Wis. and began flight training in California in June 1941. He later went to advanced fighter training in

  • Wing historian relives joys, trials of old Fairchild KC-135 airframe

    "Start the water!" When I was a copilot in the KC-135A model here at Fairchild back in 1979, that order from the aircraft commander filled me with excitement and anxiety -- excitement because we were starting our takeoff roll and anxiety because I never knew if the aircraft's water injection system was actually going to work. The A model, or "steam
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