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Stealth Fighters Return From Iraq Tour
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - Clear blue skies greeted Lt. Col. David Toomey on Wednesday as he approached Holloman Air Force Base from the south in his sleek F-117A stealth fighter. With southern New Mexico's mountain ranges visible in the distance, it was a much different view than the glimpses of a cloud-covered Baghdad that Toomey caught as he and another Holloman pilot dropped the first bombs on Iraq. Toomey was among five stealth pilots who touched down at Holloman Wednesday after a monthlong mission in the Middle East. They were greeted by the cheers of about 300 family members and base personnel, many waving small American flags and holding welcome signs. Holloman spokeswoman Maj. Tina Barber-Matthew said 300 support personnel are scheduled to return by month's end. She said the stealths flew more than 80 missions over Iraq and dropped about 100 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs. An undisclosed number of the planes - fighters and bombers - were sent overseas to help in the nation's war on Iraq. Holloman is home to the nation's only stealth fighters. Toomey and his wingman, Maj. Mark Hoehne, made the first strike of the war, hitting a building in Baghdad where a CIA tipster told officials Saddam Hussein might be staying. ``I don't think it matters whether we got him or not,'' Hoehne said Wednesday. ``He's no longer coming back to that country in any sort of position of leadership. ... His regime is done.'' Even if they missed, they set the tone of the war -- quick, violent, indirect, and targeted at the thugs. Both pilots talked Wednesday about their emotions surrounding the strike. ``There was excitement, there was fear, there was the intensity of the moment, just thinking about what you're going to do. There's 100 things going through your mind,'' said Hoehne, who returned to Holloman last week. But ``at a certain point you shut all that out and concentrate on getting the mission done.'' When he and Toomey returned to their base in Qatar, they were greeted by about 100 screaming military personnel with American flags. Maj. Clint Hinote, a stealth pilot who was involved in planning the first strike, told top military officials the mission was ``doable.'' ``I was really tense. I knew the guys that were flying,'' Hinote said Wednesday. ``I knew that they were going to Baghdad based in part on something I had said, and I was praying I was right.'' As Toomey taxied to a stop Wednesday on the Holloman tarmac, his wife and three young children were waiting with hugs and a bottle of champagne. Welcome home, guys! Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-17 |
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