Why Was a Doomsday Plane Spotted Over California?

On Sunday, March 8, a large unmarked military aircraft spent nearly two hours flying low over the Central Valley, making repeated approaches and mock landings at Fresno Yosemite International Airport. Residents who tracked it or looked up from the ground had questions. The aircraft was a Boeing E-6B Mercury, and its nickname did nothing to reduce concern.

What It Actually Is

The E-6B Mercury is a Navy-operated airborne command post built on a modified Boeing 707 airframe. Its purpose is to provide nuclear command, control, and communications for the president, the secretary of defense, and US Strategic Command if ground-based command centers are taken out or go offline. It can communicate with and direct nuclear bombers, land-based missiles, and ballistic missile submarines simultaneously.

Retired Air Force Major General Clay Garrison, chairman of the Castle Air Museum, described it as airborne control for the entire US nuclear triad. The aircraft is hardened against electromagnetic pulse and carries trailing wire antennas that allow it to reach submarines while airborne. Its only visible markings are the Navy star insignia and red-and-white bars. There are 16 in existence, operated by two squadrons out of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

Why Fresno

The flight over Fresno was training. E-6B crews conduct regular proficiency exercises including touch-and-go landings at civilian and military airports to maintain readiness for operating from a wide range of airfields. Castle Air Museum CEO Joe Pruzzo noted that this type of aircraft routinely does pattern work at Castle Airport in Atwater and that seeing one in Fresno airspace was not unusual for the region. The E-6B fleet also deploys to forward locations including Travis Air Force Base in California, which places the Central Valley within its regular operating area.

The Navy released no specific details about the March 8 flight. Nothing about the activity was inconsistent with standard crew training.