Okie team gets mission done down under

  • Published
  • 507th Air Refueling Wing
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma --  Eight members from the 507th Air Refueling Wing traveled down under from March 1 to 20th to support several Coronet missions and Australia's 2009 Avalon Airshow. 

The team, consisted of Major Remualdo, Maj. Clair Geishauser, 1st Lt. Blaine Dustin, Senior Master Sgt. Marty Lochman, Master Sgt. Steve Switzer (all from Ops), and maintenance's Technical Sgt. Eric Whitesel, A1C Shawn Shaw and A1C Justin Fox. 

According to Maj. Michael J. Remauldo, from the 465th Air Refueling Squadron and Detachment Commander for the trip, the team departed March 1 with one KC-135 and flew to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, for an overnight stop prior to proceeding to Darwin, Australia. The team left Darwin to rendezvous with another tanker escorting three F-16s and one F-15 from Japan. They picked up the fighters 2 hours north of Australia and refueled them en route to Avalon, Australia for the airshow. 

"The Avalon Airshow is one of the largest airshows in the Asia-Pacific region," the major said. The Australian International Airshow is held every two years at Avalon Airport, between Melbourne and Geelong, Victoria. It has been said by air show organizers to be the largest airshow in the southern hemisphere. It regularly features planes from the United States Navy and the United States Air Force. 

"While at the airshow, Steve Switzer earned new call sign, "Ambassador"," the major said. "He would talk to anyone who would listen, young, old, deaf or mute. It didn't matter. He even tried kissing a few babies but we stopped him just in time," he joked. 

After the airshow ended, Major Remauldo said the team refueled the fighters en route back to Darwin. "After the last AR (and certainly not to any of our doing), the fighters managed to fly through a Thunderstorm and break two jets," he said. "We delayed our departure out of Darwin for a day in hopes of getting the jets fixed and then dragging them to Japan. The jets were still broke so we stayed another day in Darwin before starting our journey back to Hickam and Tinker. We arrived home at 9 a.m. on Friday the 20th."

 "My hat goes off to the entire crew for their efforts. We certainly had some time to relax but when we had to work, it got busy. The MX folks did a great job keeping the jet flying and refueled under some difficult conditions. The trip was outstanding by all accounts; we got the mission done and had a great time while doing it," Remauldo said.