In late September 2005 several United States Air Force aircraft with around 60 of their support personnel arrived to take part in pre-planned global training exercises.  The two B-52 Buffs were participating in Exercise Bright Star, the B-1Bs in their own Global Power training missions and supporting the Malta air show and the KC-135s were needed to transport the ground support equipment and to provide the B-52s with aerial refuelling on their missions.

Exercise Bright Star is US Central Command’s largest and most significant regular exercise.  Involving forces from twelve nations and observers from thirty-eight it’s designed to strengthen the military relationships between the participating forces and improve their operational readiness.

 

The B-52s were from Barksdale AFB, the B-1s from Dyess AFB and the KC-135s from the Air Force Reserve Command base Grissom in Indiana.  An additional two B-1s staged through RAF Fairford on their way home from the Malta air show.  Most of the support personnel came from each of the aircraft's home bases although some European based people were also involved.


The B-1s came to RAF Fairford to help the air and ground crews train in unfamiliar environments.  The air crews could take advantage of the range facilities in England that would allow them to practice flying in English air space at the same time.  The B-52s were demonstrating their show of force capability by flying sorties from Fairford to the Egypt region as part of Exercise Bright Star.  As both types of aircraft were flying training missions there were no live munitions involved.


For the ground crews the deployment was a chance to practice operating at a forward location.  With no specific B-1 or B-52 support equipment at RAF Fairford everything they needed to operate the aircraft had to be sent with the deploying aircraft, one of the reasons the KC-135 aircraft were involved. 



 

Once the aircraft had begun landing their ground crews prepared to park them while an RAF Fairford ramp co-ordinator made sure the landing details were logged and each aircraft was heading for the correct parking spot.  Once at the parking spots the ground crew marshalled the aircraft the last few feet before the engines were finally shutdown.  Having stopped, the aircraft's wheels were chocked and maintenance crews began fitting 'remove before flight' covers and looking for any parts that might have broken in-flight.

After the aircraft were shutdown their aircrew were met by British police who performed customs and immigration duties, the same as those for anyone entering the United Kingdom.  While the paperwork was being done and the mission orders verified the aircrew unloaded their luggage from the aircraft.  Usually they will carry two to three bags each on the aircraft along with their survival vests and any official paperwork that needs to be kept with the aircraft.  Everyone's personal luggage was sent on the KC-135s.

At the same time the security teams were securing the aircraft operating areas to ensure only authorised personnel were in the area and the aircraft inside were kept under guard.  With the RAF operating on the airfield at the same time extra care and communication was needed to keep the American aircraft safe from 'intruders'.


 

With all of the aircraft parked and unloaded the visiting personnel were given an in-processing briefing in the base's theatre by members of the base to welcome and inform them about RAF Fairford and England.  A senior base commander gave them an introduction to RAF Fairford, spoke about it's recent history and the fact that the RAF forward deploying made the base unusually busy.  There were then fire, security and safety briefings which talked about how to make their stay as enjoyable as possible, for both them and the local residents.  Finally they were told about the region and some of the local areas they might like to visit.

For some this was their first trip to the UK or Fairford while others had been before for either exercises or Operation Allied Force in 1999.

Before the aircraft can fly considerable work is needed to make them ready for flight, even if they previously landed with no major problems.  Making a B-52 ready for flight takes nearly 8 hours and even the more modern B-1 still needs 6.  Such long preparation times mean the ground crews have to get up early most days, a 2am working day start is common on days with morning flying planned. 






 

As with any large and complex aircraft things always go wrong and break but with the right people around fixing them isn't always an issue.  However, some aircraft have very unusual components that cause technical headaches.  The B-52's cross-wind crab undercarriage is one of these, designed to allow the B-52 to land in strong crosswinds by rotating the wheels to compensate for the extra wind speed.  They rely on a complex interconnected hydraulic system which means a minor fault on one set of wheels often needs all four sets of wheels to be jacked off the ground.  For a smaller aircraft this wouldn't be too difficult but for something the size of a B-52 means a lot of work gets done.  Having eight engines usually means eight times the work for routine work or that an engine system fault is eight times more likely to happen than on a smaller aircraft. 

The B-1B benefits from more modern components which means even complex mechanical parts like its swing wing system are fairly reliable.  The biggest problems on the B-1 are usually caused by its e-mux, the electrical multiplexer, which is a complex and self-contained computer system that manages all of the aircraft's power systems.  Any request for power on the aircraft must be approved by the e-mux computers so when these go wrong the whole aircraft suffers.  Although logical to fix it's a system where sitting down with textbooks is needed rather than a box of wrenches.









 

For around half of the people on the deployment it was their first visit to England.  Everyone had been looking forward to coming to England, some just to experience a cooler climate and green fields while others were looking forward to going out in British towns.  Compared to other deployments where the weather is a lot hotter and the focus is purely on keeping the aircraft mission ready people were pleased to come to Fairford.