Photo By Master Sgt. Jenifer Calhoun | Airmen assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Sentry...... read more read more
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SOUTHWEST ASIA -- On March 23, 1977, the first E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft was delivered to the 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. Most likely, maintenance Airmen were on hand to receive and recover the planes as they arrived. Thirty-three years later, much of the same action took place at a non-disclosed base here.
On March 23, Airmen with the 380th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Sentry aircraft maintenance unit recovered E-3 Sentry aircraft returning from combat missions in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
Staff Sgt. Joshua Gotbaum, 380th EAMXS aerospace propulsion technician deployed from the 552nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Tinker AFB, described the meaning of the anniversary to him while he worked on the flightline of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing area of operations.
"I wasn't even born when these planes came to the Air Force," said Gotbaum, whose hometown is Miami, Fla. "But as far as this anniversary goes, it really is another day at work for us here on deployment. I guess the proven point here is the E-3 is still going strong and we make sure it stays that way."
For 33 years, the E-3 has been steadily involved in operations around the world to include operations Southern Watch and Northern Watch in the 1990s to today's operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Through all those operations, it's been the Sentry maintenance Airmen keeping the aircraft meeting mission requirements.
"I'm entirely confident in what I do to support this airframe - just like everyone I work with," Gotbaum said. "Sometimes it's a challenge and we have good days and bad days, but that is what makes this job interesting. The bottom line is we meet our challenges every day and this plane still goes out to meet its wartime requirements."
According to its Air Force fact sheet, the E-3 Sentry is a modified Boeing 707/320 commercial airframe with a rotating radar dome. The aircraft sports four Pratt and Whitney TF33-PW-100A turbofan engines with 21,000 pounds of thrust each and its signature rotodome is 30 feet in diameter, six feet thick and is mounted 11 feet above the fuselage. An E-3 crew chief with the 380th EAMXS, Senior Airman John Mason, said his team of maintenance Airmen have a fine understanding of all the characteristics of the aircraft.
"It's not a bad aircraft to work with," said Airman Mason, who is also deployed from the 552nd AMXS and whose hometown is Lexington, Ky. "As a crew chief, you have to know the 'ins and outs' of your plane and it's no different with the E-3. Working as a crew chief is great too because every day is very different and we are the people who work with both the flight crew and the rest of the maintenance team. It's a special plane with a special mission - it's great to be a part of it."
Senior Airman Joshua Kneese, also a crew chief with the 380th EAMXS deployed from the 55nd AMXS at Tinker AFB, said he enjoys having the "adventure every day" that the E-3's mission provides both at home station and on deployment.
"It's a totally unique aircraft," said Airman Kneese, whose hometown is Reno, Nev. "There's no doubt how special this plane is to the war in helping the troops on the ground with its mission. It makes me feel good to know that I'm not only serving my country by being in this job and in the Air Force, but also by working with an aircraft and a mission that has been critical to the Air Force's mission for such a long time."
The importance of the E-3's mission for the last 33 years is not lost on Senior Airman Daniel Shoemaker either. Shoemaker is an E-3 aircraft electrical and environmental systems journeyman with the 380th EAMXS who's also deployed from the 552nd AMXS at Tinker AFB. Unlike the crew chiefs and the aerospace propulsion maintenance Airmen, he inspects, troubleshoots and maintains aircraft electrical and environmental systems, subsystems, components and associated test equipment on the E-3.
Shoemaker said, however, that it takes an overall effort by all maintainers on the E-3 to make sure it departs when it has to for combat missions.
"In addition to maintaining the electrical and environmental systems, I also assist in the launch and recovery of the E-3 when it completes missions," said Shoemaker, whose hometown is Waxahachie, Texas. "I just know that every time an E-3 takes off for a combat mission, we've done our job."
As future dates marked with March 23, come and go, all of the Sentry maintenance Airmen said they will do their best to keep the E-3 mission ready - all the time.
"Hearing about the anniversary is interesting," Kneese said, shortly after finishing the recovery of an E-3, March 23. "Don't be offended if we keep on working here - we got things to get done." And for 33 years, the work has been done and continues on.
The 380th EAMXS is part of the 380th AEW. In addition to the E-3 Sentry, the wing is home to the KC-10 Extender, U-2 Dragon Lady and RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft. The 380th AEW is comprised of four groups and 12 squadrons and the wing's deployed mission includes air refueling, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of overseas contingency operations in Southwest Asia. The wing supports operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
| Date Taken: | 03.25.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.25.2010 01:12 |
| Story ID: | 47174 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 344 |
| Downloads: | 303 |
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