Bases provide hurricane refuge

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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) --  Nearly 180 aircraft worth billions of dollars have safely taken refuge at four Air Force Materiel Command installations, moving away from Hurricane Isabel's wrath.

The aircraft moved as part of previously-agreed-to contingency plans between the impacted base and the evacuation point, according to Bill Christensen, AFMC airfield management chief.

"Each base has a hurricane plan, updated annually, that tells (base officials) what they're going to do if the situation arises as it has recently," Christensen said. "That way, things run smoothly when the time comes rather than having chaos and possibly losing lives and aircraft."

Forty aircraft, including 30 Marine helicopters from Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., and two presidential support aircraft, moved to Robins Air Force Base, Ga. About 150 crewmembers from the helicopter and support units are expected to remain until the storm's fury has ended.

Seventy-five F-15E Strike Eagles flew in to Tinker AFB, Okla., from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., on Sept. 16 before Isabel made landfall. Three KC-135 Stratotankers carrying maintainers also landed at Tinker to take care of the aircraft. About 250 airmen accompanied the fighters and will spend the next few days maintaining the jets or flying training missions.

"No matter how you do the math, it is much cheaper to protect them than to lose them in a storm," said Lt. Col. John Scorsone, 72nd Operations Support Squadron commander at Tinker.

Aircraft and their crews from the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va.; NAS Patuxtent River, Md.; and Andrews AFB, Md.; evacuated here. Additionally, 16 F-16 Fighting Falcons from Air Force Reserve units made their way to Eglin AFB, Fla., along with their support crews.

Besides the worrisome task of escaping a hurricane, many of the airmen accompanying the aircraft just returned from an Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment and had to leave their families again to weather the storm.

"We just got home a month ago, and I left my wife this morning," said Capt. Steve Frank, a pilot evacuated to Tinker AFB. "With the support structure (of the squadron), I am 100 percent confident she's going to be able to get through this hurricane with no problems."

All aircraft and crews will return to their respective duty locations once Air Force officials deem it safe.

(Amy Schiess, Sue Murphy, Chris Zdrakas and Tech Sgt. Carl Norman contributed to this report.)