By RICK STEELHAMMER, HD Media
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Thursday, Sept. 5, more than 30 military aircraft from storm-threatened bases in North Carolina and Virginia made Charleston’s Yeager Airport a safe haven from Hurricane Dorian, a refueling station en route to more westerly wait-out sites, or a staging area for relief missions in the days to come.
“This is the most military aircraft we’ve seen here since Senator (Robert C.) Byrd’s funeral,” said Yeager’s assistant director Nick Keller, as he looked through the window at the newly opened Hershel “Woody” Williams Military Operations Center at the airport’s general aviation area.
Outside, personnel from Capital Jet Center were “hot re-fueling” a half-dozen Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopters as their engines roared and idling rotors churned the air. The Navy helos would soon lift off and fly to a hurricane-free location to the west.
Nearly a dozen Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters parked in formation in front of the Operations Center, where they were refueled and their crews tied down down their rotors. Behind them, a row of three Marine MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft were parked on an otherwise unused taxiway, and a flight of six giant Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters was inbound for a stopover at the Charleston airport. …