# Fighter jets flying out of commercial civilian airports. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161 "2011-04-04T16:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/21 "2011-04-04T22:41:59Z")
The [132nd Tactical Fighter Wing](http://sharpshooter-maj.com/html/unit02_124fs.htm), Iowa ANG, has flown out of Des Moines Airport since it was activated as an observation squadron in 1941. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/22 "2011-04-04T22:47:37Z")
We had a Navy fighter crash on takeoff at RDU airport, the pilot ejected safely. It was about 5 years ago, they were at the airport temporarily. ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/23 "2011-04-04T22:49:30Z")
I work across the street from Pearson (Toronto), and it’s not that uncommon to see CF-188s taking off or landing there. Very cool to watch. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/24 "2011-04-04T23:00:08Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > I’m guessing the Marine Corps and Navy reserves also have aircraft based at commercial airports. Not so much, no. The Marine Corps’s reserve air units are part of [the 4th Marine Air Wing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Marine_Aircraft_Wing), and those units are based mostly on various Joint Reserve Bases, like [JRB Fort Worth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Joint_Reserve_Base_Fort_Worth). The closest the Marines come is a few units at [Stewart Air National Guard Base](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Air_National_Guard_Base) which uses the same runways as [Stewart International Airport](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_International_Airport). Stewart, however, is only serviced by regional and commuter airlines like USAir Express and Continental Connection. It’s really the reverse of the OP; a military airport with some limited civilian operations. On the Navy side, the [Tactical Support Wing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_Air_Wing_Reserve_20) is the primary reserve component of Navy Aviation. Like the Marines, their units are based at various military bases. The closest to the OP is [Naval Air Station Key West](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Key_West) which physically sort of “brackets” [Key West International Airport](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West_International_Airport). ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/25 "2011-04-04T23:05:12Z")
The 126th Air Refueling Wing (Illinois ANG) and the 928th Airlift Wing (Air Force Reserve) used to operate out of O’Hare airport. As did the 138th Military Intelligence Battalion and the 327th Military Police Battalion (Army Reserve). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/26 "2011-04-04T23:19:29Z")
Found a site that listed homebases for Air National Guard units. Here’s the units that appear to be based out of commercial airports: Atlantic City International Airport, New Jersey - 177th Fighter Wing Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, Alabama - 117th Air Refueling Wing Burlington International Airport, Vermont - 158th Fighter Wing Charlotte Douglas International Airport, North Carolina - 145th Airlift Wing Cheyenne Regional Airport, Wyoming - 153rd Airlift Wing Des Moines International Airport, Iowa - 132nd Fighter Wing Duluth International Airport, Minnesota - 148th Fighter Wing Fort Smith Regional Airport, Arkansas - 188th Fighter Wing Fort Wayne International Airport, Indiana - 122nd Fighter Wing General Mitchell International Airport, Wisconsin - 128th Air Refueling Wing Great Falls International Airport, Montana - 120th Fighter Wing Harrisburg International Airport, Pennsylvania - 193rd Special Operations Wing Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi - 172nd Airlift Wing Louisville International Airport, Kentucky - 123rd Airlift Wing Portland International Airport, Oregon - 142nd Fighter Wing Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, Georgia - 165th Airlift Wing Sioux Gateway Airport, Iowa - 185th Air Refueling Wing Terre Haute International Airport, Indiana - 181st Intelligence Wing Toledo Express Airport, Ohio - 180th Fighter Wing Tulsa International Airport, Oklahoma - 138th Fighter Wing W.K. Kellogg Regional Airport, Michigan - 110th Fighter Wing Yeager Airport, West Virginia - 130th Airlift Wing ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/27 "2011-04-04T23:34:32Z")
When I was a student pilot one of my solo cross countries was to Fort Wayne, Indiana. I landed my Cessna 150 behind a military jet (F-14?) and in front of B-737. I’ve shared airports with other military aircraft a few times since then. Not a problem, and pretty routine. Not a problem for Air Traffic Control - as long as they know how fast everyone is going to be moving and where they are they can figure out how to fit everyone in without a problem. ---
**Author:** ![shellofmyformerself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@shellofmyformerself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shellofmyformerself)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/28 "2011-04-05T00:56:16Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > The Montana Air National Guard is based out of Great Falls International Airport even though there’s a perfectly good (and these days underutilized) Air Force base on the other side of town. Except that the runways and taxiways have been shut down and non-operational for many years. Every few years there is talk of opening them back up but the cost is too high. They’d have to dig up and re-lay the entire apron, runways, and taxiways. Not to mention that many of the hangars are now used for offices. I was in a rapidly-deployable unit there for a couple of years and it made the “rapid” part pretty difficult to pull off when you had to line-haul everything to the port! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/29 "2011-04-05T01:05:43Z")
The Vermont Air National Guard flies out of Burlington International Airport, possibly the smallest airport with an “International” designation. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/30 "2011-04-05T02:19:20Z")
Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa is a joint civilian-military use airport, and was chosen and the landing spot for the crippled [United Airlines flight 232](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232) instead of Des Moines, Sioux Falls or Minneapolis precisely because as an Air National Guard base, it had first-rate crash equipment and trained crews available, in addition to being in a less-populated area in case the plane crashed on approach. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/31 "2011-04-05T02:28:14Z")
It can only work at tower controlled airports. The civilian aircraft radios are VHF, the military radios are UHF, so they can’t self report as is done at smaller civilian airports where traffic does not warrant a tower. Kevbo who worked 3 years at the east end of KAFB/ABQ runway, literally on the other side of the taxiway fence, and hates F-ing afterburners. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/32 "2011-04-05T02:37:33Z")
Thunder Bay, Ontario, has one airport that services commercial scheduled, commercial charter, private, Canadian military, US military, and anything else that does not land on floats on the lake. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/33 "2011-04-05T03:01:16Z")
PDX (Portland, Oregon). Has its own home town air force. ANG F-15s. I used to have an office just odd the east end of the South runway. I never got tired of watching the Eagles depart. BTW if one did an “eagle” departure (afterburners and straight up) the concrete walls in my office would shake. Amazing to watch and hear. ---
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/34 "2011-04-05T03:06:21Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > It can only work at tower controlled airports. The civilian aircraft radios are VHF, the military radios are UHF, so they can’t self report as is done at smaller civilian airports where traffic does not warrant a tower. I’ve never been in the military, but I’ve spent a fair amount of time listening to VHF radios. Many military aircraft I’ve encountered seemed capable of communicating on either band. In fact, ATC will sometimes give both a UHF and VHF frequency option to a military aircraft when they are getting handed off to the next controller. “Reach 416 Heavy, contact Cleveland Center on 132.22 or 352.6.” Add Chicago Midway to the list, Illinois Army Nat’l Guard 1-106th has UH-60s there (seems like they’re on VHF whenever I’m around). ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/35 "2011-04-05T04:11:52Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > PDX (Portland, Oregon). Has its own home town air force. ANG F-15s. > I used to have an office just odd the east end of the South runway. > I never got tired of watching the Eagles depart. > BTW if one did an “eagle” departure (afterburners and straight up) the concrete walls in my office would shake. Amazing to watch and hear. Just recalled that Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wisconsin has an Air National Guard Unit, the 115th Fighter Wing. When I was going to school at the UW I clearly remember one fairly quiet late summer night sitting on a Lake Mendota pier near the Memorial Union when across the lake a low rumble sounded, and a fighter, presumably an F-16, launched into the night sky. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/36 "2011-04-05T04:27:32Z")
The Nevada Air National Guard now flies C-130s but used to fly F-4s and flies out of Reno-Tahoe (formerly Reno-Cannon) Int’l Airport. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/37 "2011-04-05T04:29:00Z")
My BIL was working as tower controller at Lambert in Saint Louis back in the mid-80’s. I can’t remember whether it was a jet USAF fighter wing (131st), or a plane being ferryed from the McDonald-Douglas plant, but every now and then an F-15 would request an “Eagle One” take-off. The plane would kick on afterburners with the tiger-tails, quickly lift off the ground, stay horizontal for a little bit and then go full-bore vertical. Accelerating the whole time. You would see everybody stop what they were doing and tilt their heads back looking straight up as aircraft flew off like a rocket. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/38 "2011-04-05T04:36:45Z")
> [@paperbackwriter](#): > > General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee)/126th Air Refueling Squadron (KC-135) > > I think it’s a travesty, though, that the unit based at General Mitchell doesn’t have any bombers. 😉 That should be 128th. We also used to have the 440th. Back when the 440th was open we would regularly see what a laymen such as myself would generically refer to as ‘fighter jets’ taking off and landing all the time, often in formation. Now it just happens once in a while unless there’s something special going on. These days the closes we get is ginormous gray colored jumbo jets. ETA, I have seen a B2 take off once from General Mitchell. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/39 "2011-04-05T12:09:56Z")
According to a relative who’s a military pilot, they sometimes stop at commercial fields just for convenience (or prior knowledge of a good eatery) on a long trip. I believe military pilots need to accumulate X hours of cross-country flights like their civilian brethren. My relative states that he was able to “plan” one of his trips to coincide with a big family barbecue (they landed at the small civilian field nearby). Sometimes military aircraft are at civilian fields because it’s a convenient place to stop? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161/40 "2011-04-05T12:31:34Z")
Or they need to pee - I know that happens occasionally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighter-jets-flying-out-of-commercial-civilian-airports/577161.md?page=3)