Snow cripples Mid-Atlantic bases
The Air Force wasn’t spared from the nor’easter that pounded the mid-Atlantic over the weekend, dumped more than 2 feet of snow in areas and paralyzed the region.Operations officers at Dover Air Force Base, Del., scrambled to find missions for its C-5s and C-17s to protect them from the blizzard conditions. The last plane lifted off Friday afternoon and didn’t return until Monday, said 1st Lt. Brian Maguire, a Dover spokesman.On Sunday, airmen dug out the flight line covered in 2 feet of now with drifts piled up by wind gusts that reached 45 knots, Maguire said.The storm shut down most non-emergency operations at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Eric Sharmen, a spokesman for the 316th Wing at Andrews, said. As of Monday afternoon, there was no official word whether the base would re-open Tuesday for normal operations.Bolling Air Force Base, Md., also remained closed to non-emergency operations. Repeated calls to Bolling’s public affairs office were not answered, and it’s unclear when it will re-open, especially with another snow storm forecasted to reach Washington, D.C., beginning Tuesday afternoon.In West Virginia, the 167th Airlift Wing at Martinsburg canceled weekend training set for Feb. 6 and 7 and hopes to make up the lost days this weekend. Guard members on duty helped local emergency agencies by dispatching the wing’s four-wheel drive Humvees to reach people stranded in their homes by 20-plus inches of snow.Other bases in the Mid-Atlantic region on the fringes of the snow storm reported few disruptions. On Monday, flight operations were back to normal at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.
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