MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- As we begin the new year, let's take a look at the top 10 articles from McConnell in 2016.
1. McConnell Airman pulls man from burning car
A routine drive to work turned into a life-saving experience for one 22nd Maintenance Group Airman.
Senior Airman Alex Williams, 22nd Maintenance Group Maintenance Operations Center controller, was driving down one of the busiest highways in Wichita while on his way to work when he checked his rear view mirror and noticed smoke coming from a car on the opposite side of the road.
2. B-29 ‘Doc’ takes to the skies from McConnell
One-by-one, the four propeller engines start up. Thump, thump, thump. Clouds of snow white smoke blow out of the vents on each engine. Thump, thump, thump. The propellers spin; becoming a blur of motion. Thump, thump, thump. The B-29 Superfortress, also known as Doc, speeds down McConnell’s runway. Thump, thump, thump. Doc has left the ground.
After 16 years of hard work and dedication from numerous volunteers from around the Wichita, Kansas, area, Doc took to skies for its first flight, July 17, here, since 1956.
3. The couple that flies together
Love and life can take two people on incredible adventures and to feelings of new heights while forging a heritage with one another, especially when the two are pilots.
For Maj. Matthew Jones and Capt. Chrystina Jones, love found them as C-130 Hercules pilots and, over the years, gave them a different set of wings as KC-135 Stratotanker pilots and even added two more to their aircrew, their son and daughter.
4. Combat to cowboy boots: Airman uses horses to spread resiliency
Running around the woods of North Carolina trying to catch a wild horse was a brave, blonde messy-haired child who everybody thought was crazy.
Crazy only because she had fallen in love with a flea bitten, little gray Arabian horse, that almost nobody could manage to catch, except Lauren. She wasn’t yet tall enough to put the halter on, so she would put the rope around the horses neck, hold her and look to her dad for help—until she got older that is.
For Airman 1st Class Lauren Nolan, 22nd Logistics Readiness Squadron materials management journeyman, this is where her passion for horses began and would continue to be a blessing throughout her Air Force career.
5. Keeping Airmen safe in the heat
With temperatures expected to climb, Team McConnell is urged to be cautious when exposed to upcoming hot weather to prevent heat-related injuries.
“The two things we’re really trying to guard against are heat exhaustion and heatstroke,” said Maj. Jon Black, 22nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron bioenvironmental engineering flight commander.
6. MWD retires from McConnell after 62 dog years
A furry member of Team McConnell recently retired from the 22nd Security Forces Squadron after dedicating most of her life to being a military working dog.
Djule was a patrol and explosives detection dog, and along with her time stateside, spent six months deployed to Kuwait in 2013 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She went through 1,846 hours of detection training and conducted 1,630 detector sweeps in her career. Her retirement ceremony was held Oct. 14.
7. Maintenance Repair Teams keep aircraft flying
Maintenance Repair Teams allow specialized teams of Airmen to respond to KC-135 Stratotankers that are off-station and aren’t fit to fly.
“As the aircraft get older, things break more often,” said Tech. Sgt. Timothy Thompson, 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron flying crew chief manager. “If a discrepancy is noticed during a previous flight or during an inspection that makes it unsafe for flight, it must be corrected.”
8. WWII veteran remembers time as B-29 pilot
With all four engines at full power, a B-29 Superfortress, nicknamed ‘Goin’ Jessie,’ quickly approached the end of a Tinian Island runway during World War II; the aircraft, however, still wasn’t in the air.
At the last moment, the bomber lifted off the ground just enough to stay airborne, taking out two runway lights as it slowly gained altitude.
9. My experience with Green Dot
I volunteered to teach this new program, Green Dot, without really understanding what it was all about. All I really knew was that it involved bystander intervention, in some way, shape or form.
I searched online, read a few articles and saw the program was designed to stop personal violence, which includes bullying, abuse, stalking, dating violence, in addition to sexual assault and domestic violence, which are the focus of our annual training requirements.
10. Three generations, one call to duty
During the past 18 years, the two Airmen watched each other grow and mature. They both finished their education and started their careers. One has rank on his sleeve and the other on his collar, but both wear the same name tapes, LaMothe.
The father and son active-duty duo are stationed together here.