MacDill Runway Closure Leads To Elephant Walk

Posted Jan 19, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Jan 19, 2012 at 04:42 PM

Cue the Baby Elephant Walk song…

Being a huge Henry Mancini fan, nearly any mention of Elephant Walks have a good chance of making it onto the blog, if for no other reason than it’s a good excuse to link to the song made famous in the 1962 John Wayne flick Hatari.

Anyway, the reason for reminiscing is a press release sent out by the 6th Air Mobility Wing:

The 6th Air Mobility Wing will be conducting a large formation combat training mission Jan 20 that will include 8 KC-135 Stratotankers. Part of this event will include an Elephant Walk - a unique Air Force term introduced during World War II, derived from the image of several aircraft taxing down a runway resembling a heard of elephants.

MacDill AFB is facilitating the Elephant Walk in preparation for a temporary runway closure. The runway will be closed for approximately three weeks while routine repairs are made.  MacDill’s Aircraft are dispersing to several locations as we continue the 6th Air Mobility Wing’s Mission.