ROBBINS AIR FORCE BASE — The Museum of Aviation and a unique unit of aircraft maintainers at Robins Air Force Base have a perfect marriage.
The 402nd Expeditionary Maintenance Flight stands ready to deploy at a moment’s notice around the world to repair combat-damaged aircraft.
At the museum, they get valuable training working on aircraft in a similar fashion as they would in the field. That means figuring how to do things without all of the tools and equipment they would have in a maintenance hangar.
The museum in return gets much-needed expertise and manpower. The unit, formerly the 653rd Combat Logistics Support Squadron, has provided assistance to the museum for many aircraft.
It is now working one of its biggest jobs ever, the reassembly of a recently retired C-130. Working with civilians at the base, they took the wings and tail section off the plane so it could be towed to the museum and are now putting it back together at the aircraft’s new home.
Master Sgt. Aaron Robins, the unit’s production supervisor, said about a dozen maintainers at any given time have been working to reassemble the aircraft. They started the reassembly last week and it should take another week or two.
“We have had instances where we have had to go to Afghanistan or Iraq for similar stuff, and it’s been awhile, so this kind of knocks the rust off, and we are training new people,” he said.
The unit repairs the aircraft maintained at Robins, which includes F-15, C-130, C-17s and C-5s. When those aircraft are significantly damaged anywhere around the world, the unit deploys in 24 hours or less. They have equipment stashed in “war wagons” in various countries, and when they get a call, the nearest war wagon is dispatched to the location.
It’s an all-volunteer unit and its not easy to get into it. Members must show a high level of proficiency and resourcefulness.
The C-130 project makes for a particularly realistic training exercise because it will be partially functional. They are wiring it for power so that, during special events, the doors can be lowered and people can enter and have lights inside.
“This is being treated as an aircraft that will fly again,” Robinson said.
Dennis Oliver, the museum’s chief restoration supervisor, said the unit’s help is invaluable. The museum’s small maintenance staff has its hands full just fighting the constant battle against corrosion on the many outdoor aircraft.
“We could do this work, but we would have to take people away from working on the other aircraft,” Oliver said.
Members of the unit also work on smaller projects. Recently, Tech Sgt. Christopher Willis and Tech Sgt. James Hill, both sheet metal mechanics, were in the museum’s restoration shop fabricating a part to replace a corroded piece of sheet metal on a B-29.
They have been all over the world working on aircraft, and both said there’s nothing they would rather be doing. They enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to make major repairs with limited resources.
“We usually can fix it well enough to get it back to where the tools are, and then we can really fix it,” Willis said.
When the unit was a squadron, it had over 200 maintainers, but now it has just over 60. Because the unit has been busy trying to keep up with the same workload, it hasn’t had as much time recently to work at the museum, but Robinson said now they hope to be at the museum more often.
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