ReiRei0 Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 So after reading up a little on Diego Garcia, I'm kind of fascinated by the place. A whole island whose purpose is just to be an Air Force base - Jimmy Buffett meets Curtis LeMay; sun, sand, and strategic airpower! So who has some pictures of this bomber spotters' paradise? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ikar Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I thought the navy was still the main operator of D.G. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ReiRei0 Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 Sort of. The island belongs to the British. The very nice harbor formed by the horseshoe shape of the island is home to quite a bit of naval activity. But the star of the show is the Air Force Base with its 12,000 foot runway. It's more or less the equivalent of a decent-sized SAC base from back in the day - plenty of bombers and tankers to be seen there. Here's a shot of the flightline: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b...iego_Garcia.jpg And another of the runway, as seen on final: http://www.airliners.net/photo/-/-/0665277/L/ The structures in the upper left of that picture are, I believe, the special climate-controlled shelters needed for the B-2. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Fleming Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I'm slightly reluctant to post this, as it could be 'political' but I do so without comment. Helps give an understanding of the island. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2380013.stm Mods, please remove if you think it inappropriate Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Will7813 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 (edited) Cool base, especially because it is one of the very few places RAAF combat aircraft have been stationed in the last 40 years. 4 Hornets for AD a few years ago, a shame their still not over their. Will Edited April 7, 2008 by Will7813 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 (edited) Take a look at Guam on Google Maps. A deepwater navy port, Anderson AFB (which is huge) and a massive ammo storage complex. I'd rather be stationed there than at Diego. At least there is some civilian life outside the gate. At Diego, there is no gate. You might as well be on a giant aircraft carrier in the middle of nowhere. I've talked to many folks that did time at DG, no one had anything good to say about the place. Edited April 7, 2008 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
devil505 Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I guess I'll be the exception............I loved it there! Great weather, rainshowers always showed up on schedule. The outdoor movies had that small town atmosphere. The fishing was.......AWESOME!! The cons......It was rather boring. You could get a rather painful sunburn in under 20 minutes. The Brits' were always good to me but that was not the norm......It seemed that they were always having to deal with idiots from the U.S. side and the were very leary of us. ........................And last but not least the FREAKING CRABS!!!! The were ok at first but after one drops off a leaning palm a mere 6" from me I was ready to start one big crab bake. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lenny Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 (edited) I spent 6 months in and out of Dodge on a gulf deployment. It would be a cool place if you didn't have other duties. I never got to go fishing, which I heard was pretty good. We weren't allowed to go swimming, too many sharks! The O club had skunked beer. Tasted like it had been set out in the sun for weeks then put on ice. The Air Force showed up and talked about how everything was below Air Force standards. At that time in 97 they came in with Buffs and KC-10's. I think the Navy has pulled all the P-3's out of Diego. We used to have the place to ourselves. Edited April 7, 2008 by Lenny Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rick in Maine Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 On the left side of that wikimedia shot in ReiReiO's post. Looks like a bunch of IPMS guys on a photo tour! :P Couldn't resist. :) Rick in Maine Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parche Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Take a look at Guam on Google Maps. A deepwater navy port, Anderson AFB (which is huge) and a massive ammo storage complex. I'd rather be stationed there than at Diego. At least there is some civilian life outside the gate. At Diego, there is no gate. You might as well be on a giant aircraft carrier in the middle of nowhere. I've talked to many folks that did time at DG, no one had anything good to say about the place. Having spent almost two years in Guam, I'd emphasize "some" in your post...not "alot". Still an island. The people were pretty darned nice, but the civilian life consisted of bars and strip clubs for the most part... traveling to Saipan and Tinian was pretty cool from a history standpoint. I think I might have gone batty though if it wasn't for large chunks of time at sea...I would go up to the AF base after work and sit at the end of the flightline with dinner sometimes and watch guys flying in and out. Cheers, Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ReccePhreak Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 I'm slightly reluctant to post this, as it could be 'political' but I do so without comment. Helps give an understanding of the island.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2380013.stm Mods, please remove if you think it inappropriate I wish the islanders all the luck in the world. It would be so nice if they got their home back. Larry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat Fanatic Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Won't happen. DG is too important a base for us to let it go. I'm not aware of any other base anywhere near DG that could take over for it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Karl Sander Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 At Diego, there is no gate. You might as well be on a giant aircraft carrier in the middle of nowhere. Except, it's not. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Fleming Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Again, purely for information http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7334596.stm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sunliner Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Nice pics. That article is from 2002...wonder how the legal fight is going these days. -Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Fleming Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Nice pics. That article is from 2002...wonder how the legal fight is going these days.-Mike See my second post immediately above. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F106A Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I was there for a deployment back in 2004 when I was on KC-135s. Tent city and all that! I remember something about a bounty for a cat if you found one but, boy oh boy, you better not mess with the Queen's chickens! I had fun there but will take Guam over Diego Garcia any day. Mark P.S. The fishing was great but I did get a bit tired of eating tuna all the time. Every night someone was grilling tuna and the leftovers always ended up at work! ("Anybody want some tuna? Help yourself!") Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kalashnikov-47 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I took this photo in October of 1987 from the top of the (then) SAC ops building: I think I have some P-3 Orion photos from the same time, but I'll have to look for them.... And remember...do not harass the queen's crabs. - Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hazmatt Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Interesting scheme on that KC-10. Reason? Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F106A Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 (edited) Interesting scheme on that KC-10. Reason? Hey Matt, The Shamu camoflauge scheme was used on KC-10s and KC-135s and consists of a dark grey upper surfaces with a wavy demarcation to a very light grey undersurface. I think the FS numbers are 36081 (European One Dark Grey) on the top and 16473 on the undersurfaces. The Shamu scheme was used only on the tanker fleet. Beginning in 1991 with the formation of the AMC (Air Mobility Command) out of the airlift assets of the former Military Airlift Command and the tanker assets of the former Strategic Air Command, the tanker fleet as well as the airlift fleet started to get repainted in AMC Proud Grey scheme which is a medium all-over gray with black markings. The grey is called AMC Grey which has the FS number of 26173. This must have been the beginning of adding the Shamu scheme. When I was a tanker guy on KC-135s the old timers told me that the Shamu lasted about one Programmed Depot Maintenance cycle becuase it faded so quickly. Just after Desert Storm they were all repainted as they went through PDM. We have a KC-135A on display at Dyess with a Shamu scheme but it is so faded the top looks like a dull lime green now. Uggh! They don't have the money to repaint it. As a side note we're repainting our C-47 this week. The sanding and prep work was done today. That will pretty much kill the display budget for this year! HTH, Mark Edited April 10, 2008 by Mark O. Williams Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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