The Dutch Daily News is reporting this morning that the Royal Netherlands Air Force will return to Tucson International Airport for pilot training with the 162nd Fighter Wing. For the past five years the Dutch have been training with the Ohio National Guard's 178th FW at Springfield-Beckley ANGB. The OHANG has been in long term negotiations with the RNLAF, but the Dutch have decided to return to Tucson instead. They will base 14 of their F-16 aircraft there at Tucson beginning in January 2011 just as they have at Springfield since 2005.
This is bad news for milcom monitors here in southwest Ohio who are used to hearing daily action in the local Military Operations Areas that are nearby. The 178th FW has been slated to disband in accordance to the 2005 BRAC. Area officials have been trying to negotiate a new contact to keep the Dutch at Springfield into the future,. a future which is now up in the air...so to speak.
Thank God! Peace and quiet can now begin to return to the little village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and vicinity. This is wonderful news!
ReplyDeleteYea! I can live in peace and quiet again!
ReplyDeleteThis is not bad news - this is wonderful news! These jets need wide open spaces and local citizens of this residential area need peace. We hope this change marks the beginning of a life of peace and quiet in and around tiny, bucolic Yellow Springs, Ohio. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteTo Whom It May Concern
ReplyDeleteNot all residents enjoy the experience of low-flying F-16s going over their house and town. May people in the countryside of Ross County have been mock-strafed and so forth and do not appreciate the activity of the Dutch pilots and others.
It really seems to be better for them to fly out West where the population is less dense. The counties are now over-built and crowded where farm fields once were when the area was designated suitable for such overflights.
It's all about fair and considerate use of space so that citizens might partake of fair use of their property.
The towns of Chillicothe, Bainbridge, Greenfield, Frankfort, and points in between have long been subjected to extreme noise and disturbance from these planes and the people in these areas have not received any of the benefits the base claims to provide, such as improved economy, more jobs, etcetera.
I am glad to hear they are moving West. I think it will contribute greatly to the sanity and serenity of our community in Ross County for them to move West.
Thank you for airing a different point of view.
Sam Jones