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A week in history: Remembering Shell 77

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Mackenzie Richardson
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Today, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing remembers the lives of three fallen Fairchild Airmen who perished four years ago in a KC-135 Stratotanker crash in northern Kyrgyzstan.

The crew of Shell 77 included Capt. Tyler Voss, Capt. Victoria Pinckney and Tech. Sgt. Tre Mackey III; all members of the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron. All three were deployed to the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing’s 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

“Every day we are reminded of the gravity and seriousness of this critical mission we execute,” said Col. Matthew T. Fritz, 92nd ARW vice commander. “Taking time to pause, remember and honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice propels us forward with renewed strength in respecting the unique bonds shared among warriors.”

May 1

May 1 has been a day of many important events and happenings from the 1950s to the early 2000s. In 1960, Francis Gary Powers, a Central Intelligence Agency U-2 pilot was shot down over Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union where he was captured and put on trial for espionage. He was later exchanged for a Soviet agent captured by the United States and returned home.

In 1977, Strategic Air Command transferred responsibility for the 141st Air Refueling Group from the 28th Bombardment Wing to the 92nd BW. The 92nd BW didn’t become the 92nd ARW until July 1, 1994.

May 3

While supporting Tanker Task Force operations at Howard Air Force Base, Panama, a 98th Air Refueling Squadron crew completed a sortie that at the time was the largest KC-135 aeromedical evacuation mission ever completed. The crew transported 17 patients to Kelley AFB, Texas.

The 98th ARS was inactivated in July 1998 after four years of activation at Fairchild.

May 5

The 1st Pursuit Group was organized at Toul, France, May 5, 1918, to coordinate the 94th and 95th Aerospace Squadrons. Now the 1st Operations Group, 1st Fighter Wing, it is the oldest Air Force group in existence.

By making a suborbital flight in Mercury capsule, Freedom 7, Alan B. Shepard Jr. became the first United States astronaut in space May 5, 1961.

Thirty five years later, Col. Betty L. Mullis, assumed command of the 940th Air Refueling Wing at McClellan AFB, California, and became the first woman to command a flying wing.