Pease AFB and the 509th BW welcomed its new bomber on December 16, 1970. The aircraft, 68-0265, made two passes over the base for the benefit of more than 500 spectators and military officials waiting at "C" Hangar, the site of the ceremonial welcome for the plane and its crew. The plane's pilot, Col. Winston E.Moore, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Pease, was the first man to fly an operational version of the plane. At the time, Moore was a veteran of more than 9,000 hours in SAC aircraft, including 4,500 hours in the B-52 and 115 missions in Vietnam. Moore's navigator, Maj. Billy R.Seals, was a 17-year veteran assigned to the 340th Bomb Group, Carswell AFB, TX, where Moore picked up 509th BW's first FB-111A. A decorated veteran of Southeast Asia duty, Seals has had more than 75 hours of flying time in the new FB-111A.

That day marked the beginning of the arrival of some 32 such aircraft at Pease AFB. A second plane was due on Dec. 18 with several more to follow in January to fill out the 32-plane complement for the 509th BW. Pease had awaited the arrival of the FB-111A since the Summer of 1969. Construction of an FB-111A simulator building, a jet engine test shell and a jet engine run-up pad preceded the plane's arrival. The new arrival had made necessary the addition of more than 500 new people in the Pease community to work on the support of the new jet.

Still in flight clothes, Col. Moore climbed to the VIP platform and recalled he'd been promising to bring an FB-111A to New Hampshire for a year. Moore called the aircraft "the finest fighting machine that our engineers and technicians have devised thus far" and "the most advanced piece of equipment in the world." Before touching down the FB-111A smoothly on to the Pease runway, Col. Moore treated spectators to a high level flyover with the plane's wing swept back. Halfway across the field, he dropped fuel which ignited and caused a 20 foot flame to leap from the rear of the aircraft. A low level sweep followed, with wings extended straight in the landing and take-off position. According to Col. Moore, the flight from Carswell AFB was uneventful and he received a cherry welcome from Boston Center, the civilian air traffic control center, as he returned to New England.

Governor's Councilor Robert Whalen represented Governor Peterson at the ceremonies. Whalen expressed his pride in the arrival of the plane at Pease and in the people who work there. Portsmouth Mayor Eileen Foley welcomed the plane and its two-man crew on behalf of the many Portsmouth dignitaries gathered at the base. After Mayor Foley, Whalen, Dover Mayor John Maglaras and Pease officials addressed the crowd, the huge doors of the hangar slid open and the first 509th BW's FB-111A was towed in for display.