Photo By Staff Sgt. Joseph Morgan | Northwest Machining and Manufacturing tour the 124th Fighter Wing’s aircraft...... read more read more
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Mark Damiano, owner and president of Northwest Machine & Manufacturing, can see A-10 Thunderbolt IIs fly over his shop’s location in Meridian, Idaho, nearly ever day as 124th Fighter Wing pilots fly towards
Gowen Field.
While the attack aircraft attracts the eyes of aviation lovers everywhere, the A-10 catches Damiano’s attention every time one flies over his building for a very specific reason: Damiano and his team of employees manufacture one of the many parts that keep the Air Force’s only sole-purpose close air support platform operational.
Last week, Damiano and all 50 of his employees got to see the A-10 and the landing gear trunnion they manufacture up close when the manufacturing shop toured Gowen Field.
“Being that the aircraft are here and we see them flying all the time, I thought we’d come out to see where the passion we use to build our products goes,” Damiano said.
The trunnion, among other parts, attaches the plane’s landing gear to its airframe and permits rotation of the gear assembly. Damiano said each trunnion takes 20 weeks to produce and at least a dozen different employees contribute to each one. Other venders assist with various sub-components, which fly in nearly every operational A-10.
During the tour, shop employees saw multiple A-10s, and the wing’s metal shop and fuel bay.
“The A-10 is an incredible war machine,” said Brig. Gen. Tim Donnellan, commander of the Idaho Air National Guard and a former A-10 pilot with more than 3,200 flight hours and five combat tours. “The men and women who fly it couldn’t do it without the support of the people who make it.”
The tour was one of many tours the Idaho National Guard conducts each year as part of the organization’s community relations program.
“It’s great for the shop to come out and see how critical the parts we manufacture are,” said Damiano.
| Date Taken: | 04.11.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2023 17:12 |
| Story ID: | 442434 |
| Location: | IDAHO, US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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