Maintainers keep Stratotankers airborne

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Karah Manning
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  A KC-135 Stratotanker is considered a support aircraft in the war on terrorism, but for many members of the 340th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, that is an understatement.

Tasked with the responsibility of keeping Air Force, sister service and coalition aircraft refueled and flying, these Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., maintainers said they know the importance of their mission.

“The Stratotanker is the backbone of the Air Force,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Lovelace, KC-135 maintainer. “We probably have the most important mission in the (area of responsibility).” Without refuelers, the other aircraft couldn’t complete their missions.”

However, KC-135s are an aging fleet, with most of the aircraft built in the 1950s and 1960s, officials said. Because they are flying twice as often here as they do back home, maintainers are critical to the mission’s success. That responsibility is made harder because many of the crew chiefs and specialists were deployed about 260 days last year, Sergeant Lovelace said.

“Our (maintainers) continually amaze me with their can-do attitude and quality repairs,” said Senior Master Sgt. Gary Holman, the unit’s maintenance superintendent.

During the recent Iraqi elections, these maintainers helped set a record for the most fuel delivered -- 3.5 million pounds -- in a single day.

The maintainers also have achieved an 86 percent unit mission capable rate -- the highest in nine months, said Sergeant Holman. Since the unit took over in late January, they also boosted air tasking order reliability by 75 percent. This means the tankers are able to perform more missions, bringing more fuel to the fight, earning them the title of “the best tankers in the AOR” by the Combined Air Operations Center.

“We have a very strong presence here,” said Senior Airman Michael Edmonson, a KC-135 assistant crew chief. “We do a lot to support the fighters with the gas they need to make it to their destinations and back.”