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Sgt. Glenn Fritch with the 125th Security Forces Squadron from the Florida Air National Guard watches over the 13 F-15 Eagles flown to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base until Tropical Storm Hanna passes by Florida. Base Spokesman Derek Kaufman expects more airplanes including F-15E Strike Eagles form Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina and C-17 Globemasters from Charleston AFB in South Carolina on Friday.Click to enlarge

Contract Meteorologist Bill Hennix monitored the path of Tropical Storm Hanna for the 88th Operations Support Squadron at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on Wednesday afternoon as more military planes are scheduled to seek refuge there on Friday.Click to enlarge

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Military aircraft being moved from East Coast bases to avoid the possibility of damage from Tropical Storm Hanna are coming to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The base has often served over the years as a temporary sanctuary for military planes threatened by potentially violent coastal storms. Forecasters said Hanna could become a hurricane and put the East Coast at risk.

The 88th Air Base Wing, which operates Wright-Patterson, said the first wave of aircraft included at least 14 F-15 Eagles from the Florida Air National Guard's 125th Fighter Wing at Jacksonville, Fla. Those planes began arriving Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 3.

Officials of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., said that approximately 80 F-15E Strike Eagles are to depart Thursday for Wright-Patterson, along with a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker from that base's 916th Air Refueling Wing.

Also planned on Thursday is the evacuation of several C-17 Globemaster IIIs from the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

Additional aircraft evacuations to Wright-Patterson may become necessary, officials said.