HomeNewsArticle Display

Tinker partners with Boeing on rare bomber fix

  • Published
  • By Micah Garbarino
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  An aircraft that had been sitting "hard broke" for four years on the Tinker ramp is now being returned to serve a useful purpose in the Air Force thanks to cooperation between Boeing and the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group's B-52 Production Flight.

The B-52's cracked "milk bottle" casting, a fitting that attaches the wing to the fuselage, kept the bomber sidelined until engineers could come up with a fix, forcing Headquarters and Air Combat Command to wait on the decision of returning it to the fleet, said Randall Sneed, B-52 Production Flight chief.

The problem was very unique, said Mr. Sneed. A repair like this has never been attempted. The B-52 program office partnered with Boeing and pulled a center wing section from stock at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, N.M. The team "reverse engineered" the replacement procedure in an attempt to save the aircraft for combat.

Ultimately, because of the aircraft's high flying-hours, the decision was made to retire it as part of the Air Force's planned effort to reduce the B-52 fleet. Before they could do this, the team would need to fix the aircraft for a "one-time flight" to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, where it will serve the rest of its days as a maintenance trainer. Boeing developed a temporary fix that made this possible, said Mr. Sneed.

The problem then, was space. Where to do the work with all the B-52 Production Flight docks full? That's where Boeing's Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Facility came in. Located across Douglas Avenue from the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, the MROTC provided a home for the work on the B-52.

"The MROTC, right across the street, adds maintenance hangar capacity to Tinker AFB," said Col. Doug Cato, 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group commander. "We are able to perform needed B-52 maintenance when our depot hangar capacity is maximized on Tinker."
The MROTC has 156,000 square feet of hangars, office and shop space, enough room for an aircraft as large as the B-52. The facility is connected to Tinker via a tow-way across Douglas Boulevard.

The tow across Douglas Blvd is nothing new to the tow crew here at Tinker.

"They can move anything, anywhere, anytime with utmost precision and have moved several different types of aircraft back and forth to the MROTC facility for work," Mr. Sneed said. Before any move is made, the team coordinates with Security Forces and local law enforcement to close off Douglas Blvd. in the middle of the night to allow the moves to safely happen across a public roadway.

"This if the first time we've put a B-52 in there. Working together with Boeing, the 76th Maintenance Wing and the fire department and other agencies we were able to move the aircraft over there and the Air Force basically rented the space," Mr. Sneed said. Other aircraft that have been moved to the MROTC include the E-3 and the B-1.