Deployed B-52s Cover 5,000 Miles in a Week

B-52s deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam, had a busy week in June, flying eight training missions that covered more than 5,000 miles. The bombers, deployed from Minot AFB, N.D., participated in eight joint and bilateral sorties from June 13-20, including a trip to Australia for close air support training and a mission near Japan and Korea, according to a Pacific Air Forces release. B-52s also flew the first-ever live fire integration training sortie with the US Navy’s Guided Missile Destroyer USS Spruance, firing live munitions on the Farallon de Medinilla range near Guam, according to PACAF. The training events happened shortly after a B-52 was severely damaged on the Andersen flightline, leaving the deployment one bomber short with a full training schedule. “Despite the loss of one of our aircraft and the bomber crew’s very close call, our combat aviators kept on trucking,” Lt. Col. Jeremy Holmes, commander of the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, said in the release. “We saw our warrior ethos shine just a bit brighter then, and after.”