Photo By Staff Sgt. Amy Rangel | U.S. Air Force 169th Maintenance Squadron structural maintainers tape and prepare an...... read more read more
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The Air Force mandates periodic maintenance and upkeep for static displays. However, this particular aircraft has special significance to the South Carolina Air National Guard (SCANG) and its Airmen.
The SCANG was the first Air Guard unit in the country to fly the Starfighter from 1960-63. During that time, the base's namesake, Brig. Gen. Barnie McEntire, died when the F-104C he was piloting "flamed out" and he crashed over Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
"I like to think it shows where the SCANG has come from the P-51 all the way up to the F-16," said U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey Hopper, Aircraft Structural Maintenance shop chief. "It shows our heritage, our legacy and also it's a very good exercise for personnel to maintain the aircraft."
Hopper said the overhaul of the aircraft included sanding, metal work, priming, painting and adding new decals. He also said this project was scheduled to take about three weeks.
The maintainers worked hard to meet this goal, even with some obstacles which were out of their control.
"The biggest challenge for us has been getting the correct equipment and figuring out how to access the aircraft being up on a pole," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Austin Soltow, structural maintainer. "The weather has played a part due to South Carolina being really hot and humid. This time of the year, we tend to have a lot of rain showers."
According to Soltow, the maintainers begin work around 5 a.m. and use a mobile light cart to avoid the extreme heat for themselves and the plane's metal as they apply the paint.
Soltow explains how valuable tips from previous leadership helped with the project.
"Chief Master Sgt. Bowen was a structural maintainer by trade," said Soltow. "He's been able to give us better insight. When we do another static, we want to go about painting and doing this process smarter and quicker while still getting the final product to the original state."
As this project wraps up, the 169th Maintenance Squadron is already looking ahead to the next static display restoration.
The maintainers choose projects and order of precedence based on specifications from the Air National Guard instruction manual for their career field.
"An upcoming project we are looking at is our F-16 that's on the static display at the front gate," said Soltow. "That one is in dire need of it. Referencing our ANGI-21-105, we're basically going to look at what aircraft will need the most work. We have three other aircraft on static displays that we'll have to evaluate in the future. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, we'll start on those as well."
| Date Taken: | 08.02.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2022 13:01 |
| Story ID: | 426328 |
| Location: | MCENTIRE JOINT NATIONAL GUARD BASE, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 445 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, McEntire JNGB F-104C Static Aircraft Display Undergoes Restoration, by SSgt Amy Rangel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
2A5XX Aerospace Maintenance
