Red Flag maintainers beat the heat

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Wesley Wright
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Minot AFB's B-52H Stratofortress maintainers at Red Flag 08-03 beat the Vegas heat, adapting to their new environment and setting themselves apart from their competition.

According to Capt. Hugh Cantwell, 23rd Bomb Squadron's maintenance operations officer, Minot's Warbird maintainers were "feeling the heat," but adapted well and overcame the challenges.

"The heat here presented two challenges from a maintenance perspective," Captain Cantwell said. "First, our maintainers went from Minot's flightline temperatures of maybe 80 degrees to flightline temperatures around 110 degrees. Inside the flight deck, it could get up to 130."

Even though the B-52's skin can reach temperatures of 180 degrees Fahrenheit, the Warbirds took no chances when it came to safety.

"There were hazards, but we took every precaution," Captain Cantwell said. "We made sure people stay hydrated and rotated people on and off the flight line as often as we could. Safety was our number one priority."

Captain Cantwell said the second challenge was the heat stress on the aircraft itself.

"The aircraft will actually expand and contract with temperature fluctuation," he said. "The heat also causes stress on the engines. For these missions, we ran them hot and fast. Our Airmen did a great job of staying on top of things to make sure our aircraft were safe to fly."

One of the Airmen "staying on top of things" was Airman 1st Class Brady Fender, 5th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron weapons armament. Airman Fender's job was to take care of "all things munitions" on the B-52 ... a job he took great pride in.

"Without weapons armament, we're just an airline," Airman Fender said. "The flyers couldn't do what they do without us."

At 20 years old, Airman Fender was one of Minot's youngest Airmen deployed to Red Flag and said his greatest challenge was keeping up with his peers, all of whom were noncommissioned officers.

"I enjoyed the challenge," he said. "It was a great learning experience. I got lots of on-the-job training."

Another Airman who received lot of OJT and enjoyed the challenge was Senior Airman Daniel Williams, 5th AMXS assistant crew chief.

"Tempo and heat - those were the two biggest challenges out there," he said.

Airman Williams rapidly learned to overcome both challenges, as his job was critical to successfully launching and recovering the B-52s.

"We're the middle man between aircrew and specialists," he said. "Among many other things, we recover the jet, make it safe and gas it. We're the last step before the plane launches and the first step when it gets back. We're a jack of all trades when it comes to the B-52."

The crew chief added that one of the most rewarding aspects of his job is knowing an aircraft he worked on comes back safe and sound.

"Knowing that all the training, dedication and teamwork we put into the jet results in the aircrew coming home safe ... there isn't a better feeling," he said.

Seeing his Airmen work together and showing dedication and pride in their jobs was very rewarding to Captain Cantwell.

"It's easy sometimes for people to focus on just their individual roles," the captain said. "But this exercise really brought everybody together. Everybody lent a hand and helped wherever they could. We brought about 80 people here and every one of them selflessly gave of themselves wherever possible to make sure this mission was a success."

The captain said he was also pleased with how his Airmen managed with finite resources.

"In a deployed environment, we were given just enough to get the job done," Captain Cantwell said. "However, we weren't at a B-52 base, so parts and resources were limited. Our people did a great job with the resources we had."

Lt. Col. Mac Langdon, 23rd Bomb Squadron detachment commander, had high praise for his maintainers.

"Each day, I thought there isn't any way our maintainers could exceed what they did the day before," Colonel Langdon said. "However, with each new day I was proven wrong as they exceeded my expectations once again. Their initiative, ingenuity, adherence to safety standards and drive to get the mission accomplished each day made my job easy. It is definitely true: 'Only the Best Come North'."