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  • Vance Airmen help Keesler, south get back on feet

    Following the nation's recent landfall of Category 3 and 4 hurricanes, Americans have pulled together to get Mississippi and Louisiana back on their feet. Hurricane Katrina targeted Gulf Coast regions in late August, breaking New Orleans levees and flooding several areas, including Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Three weeks later, Hurricane Rita

  • VAFB's Young Road named for Oklahoma World War II pilot

    Often the most frustrating projects are the most rewarding. Team Vance's history states the Air Force renamed Enid Air Force Base for Lt. Col. Leon Vance on July 9, 1949. During the ceremony, the Great Salt Planes Air Force Auxiliary Field became Kegelman Auxiliary Field and the streets were renamed "in honor of Oklahoma men who were killed during

  • Vance youth give 'Locks of Love'

    Two quick snips of the scissors and several of a mother's tears later, and it was done. Catherine O'Bryan finally freed herself of 11 inches worth of weight from her head. However, the 8-year-old's sacrifice Oct. 7 was not in vain, but in the hopes another child would welcome the wig fashioned from the hair. Felicia O'Bryan, wife of Capt. Timothy

  • Vance road named for patriotic family's son

    Running between Weaver and Channel Streets, Vance Air Force Base's McAffrey Avenue is named for Sgt. Dean G. McAffrey. Called "Bobby Dean" by his family and friends, Sergeant McAffrey came from a family of patriots. In all, five sons and three grandsons served in uniform during World War II. Sergeant McAffrey grew up with five brothers and five

  • IP survives life-threatening disease

    There's nothing like engaging in a favorite pastime to help ease the transition to a new assignment. But for an instructor pilot now with the 8th Flying Training Squadron at Vance Air Force Base, engaging in a favorite pastime nearly cost him his life. Three weeks after arriving at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Capt. Andy Rose took a break from

  • Hastings Street named for WW II Enid native

    When the 380th Bombardment Group's 528th Bombardment Squadron from Biggs Field, Texas, deployed in April 1943, Enid native 1st Lt. Franklin Hastings went with them. The group activated in November 1942 and trained with their Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" bombers in both Kansas and Colorado. The deployment took them to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater

  • Why pilots torch pianos at club

    Since there is a piano burning at the Vance O'Club tonight after Class 05-14's assignment night, I thought I would provide a little history on the tradition of burning pianos. As in any fighter-pilot story, I guarantee 10 percent is true. The tradition is actually tied back to the British sometime between World War I and World War II. As airplanes

  • Dorm name honors first USAF enlisted casualty of Vietnam

    The first known Air Force combat loss of the Vietnam War occurred on a classified mission. Some aspects of the operation remain classified but much of the story can be told. The leaflet drop mission had become routine in the months Detachment 2, 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron had spent in Vietnam. The first leg of the out-and-back flight

  • Hobby of one enlightens 800

    What started as a hobby for one Vance Air Force Base NCO has become an educational and entertainment tool for more than 800 people to date. Staff Sgt. Aaron Wesson, 71st Operations Support Squadron, began the Web site, www.wxchat.com, in July 2002 as a place for people interested in weather to learn more about the topic and chat with those who

  • Fox Drive memorializes IP

    We drive on them all the time, but how often do we stop to consider the story behind the name of a street? The name helps us give direction and helps us find our way home, but it also often refers to important people and events in our culture and heritage. Many of the streets on Vance Air Force Base are named for World War II veterans and streets
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