Operation Desert Storm 25 years later: Air Force

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  • F-16A Fighting Falcon, F-15C Eagle and F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft fly over burning oil field sites in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. (U.S. Air Force archive photo)
  • A B-52G Stratofortress aircraft takes off on its return flight to the United States after being deployed during Operation Desert Storm.
  • An air-to-air view of two U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and a Royal Saudi Air Force F-5E Tiger II fighter aircraft during a mission in support of Operation Desert Storm. The aircraft are armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
  • U.S Air Force pilot Cpt. David Meinhart, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., jumps up to take a pre-flight look at the engine of his KC-135 tanker at an airbase in central Saudi Arabia on Monday, Feb. 4, 1991. Meinhart says he is too short to get a good look into the engines without leaping up. The tankers are being used to for aerial refueling of fighters for operation Desert Storm. (AP Photo)
  • Ground crews service the F-117A aircraft of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing (37th TFW) on the flight line. The 37th TFW was preparing to deploy to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield.
  • A KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft boom operator refuels a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft, center, during air operations for Operation Desert Storm over Southwest Asia Feb. 1, 1991. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chris Putnam/Released)
  • A close-up view of M-117 750-pound bombs loaded into the bomb bay of a B-52G Stratofortress aircraft prior to a bombing mission against Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm.
  • Staff Sgt. Brian D. Land checks a .50-caliber tail turret gun on a B-52G Stratofortress aircraft during Operation Desert Shield.
  • SOUTHWEST ASIA — A B-52H Stratofortress drops a load of M-117 750lb bombs. During Desert Storm, B-52s delivered 40 percent of all the weapons dropped by coalition forces. B-52s struck wide-area troop concentrations, fixed installations and bunkers, and decimated the morale of Iraq’s Republican Guard. In the Gulf War involved the longest strike mission in the history of aerial warfare when B-52s took off from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., launched conventional air launched cruise missiles and returned to Barksdale — a 35-hour, non-stop combat mission. (U.S. Air Force photo)
  • A 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-15 Eagle aircraft banks to the right following refueling during Operation Desert Storm. The aircraft is armed with four AIM-7 Sparrow missiles on the fuselage, an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on the left wing and an AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missile on the right wing.
  • FILE PHOTO: An F-16C Fighting Falcon of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing flies over the Red Sea during Operation Desert Storm. (Photo by USAF)
  • F-117 stealth fighter aircraft of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing stand on the flight line with canopies raised following their return from Saudi Arabia where they took part in Operation Desert Storm.