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TYNDALL AFB - Aircraft left behind for maintenance or safety reasons when Tyndall Air Force Base was evacuated last week in advance of Hurricane Michael's direct hit on the installation are in better shape than expected, according to Air Force senior leadership who toured the all-but-destroyed facility during the weekend.
When Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle, Tyndall Air Force Base took a direct hit. Initial reports feared a worst-case scenario, but top Air Force officials now say those fears may have been overhyped.
Crews with backhoes and other heavy equipment scooped up splintered boards, broken glass, chunks of asphalt and other debris in hurricane-flattened Mexico Beach on Sunday as the mayor held out hope for the 250 or so residents who may have tried to ride out the storm. The death toll from Michael's destructive march from Florida to Virginia stood at 17, with just one confirmed death so far in this Florida Panhandle town of about 1,000 people that took a direct hit from the hurricane and its 155 mph winds last week.
Barely 24 hours after Hurricane Michael made landfall and virtually destroyed Tyndall Air Force Base, a Special Tactics team from the Hurlburt Field-based 23rd Special Tactics Squadron had opened a runway and begun bringing air traffic into the base.
The last of thousands of F-4 Phantom jets that have been a workhorse for the U.S. military over five decades are being put to pasture to serve as ground targets for strikes by newer aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force is moving aircraft out of the way of Hurricane Matthew. A-10 Thunderbolt Aircraft went from Moody Air Force Base in Georgia to Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida on Thursday.