Info Last Shuttle flight

[OneShot]

When the Shuttle Endeavour launched on May 16th on STS-134 mission commanded by Mark Kelly (husband of Senator Gabby Giffords) there were clouds at 5000 feet, and the clouds were at least 500 feet thick. People on ground could see the Shuttle for only 22 seconds before it vanished into the clouds.

NASA's last Shuttle launch of "ENDEAVOR" from KSC was on 5-16-2011. This is a photo of the LAST shuttle launch for this workhorse for NASA, from the best seat in the house... an F-15E Strike Eagle at 26 thousand feet above the clouds over the east coast of Florida flying protective combat air patrol for the launch. You can see the F-15's wingman (believe the warbirds are out of Seymore Johnson AFB in North Carolina) to the right and the Shuttle Endeavour piercing the cloud cover in the extreme lower left of the picture. Had a friend email me this pic, definitely a what you would call a"birds eye" view of the last historic launch of Endeavour. Shuttle Atlantis flew for the last time in Mid July ending forever the Shuttle program and retiring the fleet after 30 years of service.

[[3rdArmy]CW-4]

Nice pic...

The 15's could be out of JAX from the Florida AirGuard. My son works on the 15's there and they also fly air cap for the east coast. Too bad I can't pick up a tail number.....

[OneShot]

Originally Posted by [3rdArmy]CW-4

Nice pic...

The 15's could be out of JAX from the Florida AirGuard. My son works on the 15's there and they also fly air cap for the east coast. Too bad I can't pick up a tail number.....

That would make more sense CW-4 as Jacksonville is a lot closer than North Carolina to the KSC. I tried to get tail letters from the Eagle pictured that was emailed to me but as you said it is not very clear. The original pic I received has a little more detail (not much though) but I believe the letter "J" and possibly "S" and what appears to be ACC's logo are on the tail so I assumed it could be from Air Combat Commands' 4th Fighter Wing F-15E squadron out of Seymour Johnson AFB (tail letters "S J" ) in North Carolina. Eglin Air Force Base here has a squadron of Eagles, Air Combat Command's 33rd Fighter Wing, stationed on the Panhandle/West Coast of Florida. The 33rd flies F-15 C's and wear the tail number " E G. " Like you said CW-4 Florida Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Group flies F-15 A's and B's if I am not mistaken out of Jacksonville and of course wears the letters " F L " on it's birds tail. Either way nice to know those guys are up there even though we never see them. My thanks to your son for his service