Interesting factoid for Lincoln

[eomaha]

Okay... here's something I never knew. Lincoln Municpal Airport is one of only 6 designated emergency landing sites in the nation for the SPACE SHUTTLE!! Thanks largely to the fact it has a 12,000 foot long runway.

[OhioStreetKid]

I had heard that before as well, I thought it was designated that because of its connection to the Air Guard. I did not know it was only 6 sites, I had figured about any airbase was an option.

[eomaha]

I'm sure in a real emergency they probably would have many more choices... but there are only 6 sites in the US listed as official alternate landing sites... half of which are dedicated airbases.

[almighty_tuna]

I've hoped since I was a grade schooler in Lincoln, checking out the shuttle manual from the school library, that there would be enough national failures to force the shuttle to land at Lincoln. Whenever I got the chance to watch a landing on TV I would be glued to the set, and sometimes disappointed if it landed in the desert when there's a much better place in Lincoln.

[jsheets]

I grew up near the airport in Lincoln and remember hearing this story from a neighbor in the Air Guard. As he told it, the runway you note is shared with the Nebraska Air National Guard for the refueling missions that are run out of Lincoln. According to him the large tankers need the long runway because of their massive size and weight. Makes sense to me, but I don't know if it is true.

Also, you may not be aware that Lincoln was home to an Air Force base around the WWII timeframe. It's the Air Park area NW of the airport. Besides a baseball field, regional center, and a LPD training facility, there isn't much there anymore except for the gridded roads. And because of the empty gridded roads, this is where every kid in NW Lincoln learns to drive :-) This base might have something to do with the runway also...

[zedmib]

I don't know the exact timeframe but back in the late 1950's or early 60's
Lincoln hosted a wing of B-47 bombers. These transonic nuclear capable bombers were used until the B-52 arrived. The 12,900 ft runway was needed to get these "ground loving" planes in the air. It still occasionally happened that on a hot humid day one of these bombers would run off the end of the runway on takeoff.
Another nearby airport with a very long runway is Salina KS (13,300 ft). I believe it served in the same capacity. For comparison, Offutt's runway is 11,700 ft.

[almighty_tuna]

I grew up near the airport in Lincoln and remember hearing this story from a neighbor in the Air Guard. As he told it, the runway you note is shared with the Nebraska Air National Guard for the refueling missions that are run out of Lincoln. According to him the large tankers need the long runway because of their massive size and weight. Makes sense to me, but I don't know if it is true.

Also, you may not be aware that Lincoln was home to an Air Force base around the WWII timeframe. It's the Air Park area NW of the airport. Besides a baseball field, regional center, and a LPD training facility, there isn't much there anymore except for the gridded roads. And because of the empty gridded roads, this is where every kid in NW Lincoln learns to drive :-) This base might have something to do with the runway also...

As I understand the story what is now known as Offutt used to be in Lincoln many moons ago. There was to have been a base hospital built in Lincoln, but the powers that be had it built in Omaha, and the base followed. So Lincoln was left with the base housing, runway and later the ANG. I preferred when the fighter jets were stationed there. They'd fly in formations of 3 and 4 right over my house!

[zedmib]

I also liked the RF-4C jets that the ANG used before the Tankers. The RF-4C was a photo recon version of the F-4 Phantom fighter jet. I was told that since the ANG jets only carried cameras they had to be careful to pull back on the throttle just after takeoff. From a standing start with max power and afterburner it could reach mach 1 before reaching the end of Lincoln's long runway. (zoom,zoom,zoom!) They had a top speed of mach 2.5+.
The most dramatic local use of these jets occured on May 6, 1975.
Durring the Omaha tornado several of the jets were moved to takeoff positions. When the all clear was given the jets covered the distance to Omaha in a couple of minutes and took the first photos of the damage. I remember seeing a least two flying low and fast (and LOUD). Thats when I new that the city was hit hard by the tornado. I was a plane nut back then too, I was eight years old.

[eomaha]

I remember them well.