Fairchild Sending Missiles

Tue., March 30, 1999

A quartet of B-52 bombers loaded with cruise missiles left Fairchild Air Force Base on Monday to join NATO forces bombing Yugoslavia.

The bombers are from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and had arrived at Fairchild on Saturday, said base spokesman Master Sgt. Dan D’Antonio.

The bombers are headed to a Royal Air Force base at Fairford, England.

Fairchild, a former B-52 bomber base, has kept a supply of cruise missiles since the bombers left in 1994.

“The decision was made not to move them because all the maintenance and storage facilities are here,” D’Antonio said.

Fairchild has 15 KC-135 tanker jets and roughly 220 personnel participating in the NATO mission. Three of those tankers and 20 personnel left Saturday and are expected to return this week.

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Fairchild Sending Missiles

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