Airmen restore piece of history

  • Published
  • By Navy JO2 Mat Sohl
  • Iceland Defense Force Public Affairs
NAVAL AIR STATION KEFLAVÍK, Iceland (AFPN) --  As civilian and military aviation enthusiasts throughout the world celebrate the “Centennial of Flight,” airmen from U.S. Air Forces in Europe’s 85th Group here completed a meticulous project to preserve and showcase a piece of Air Force history in Iceland.

Recently, more than 60 airmen, sailors and civilians helped transport a restored F-4 Phantom museum piece from the flightline here to its pedestal in front of the 85th Group’s command building.

In 2002, members of the 85th Group’s Maintenance Squadron removed the Phantom because of extensive corrosion on the aircraft. The aircraft had been on the display here since the early 1990s.

Despite the money and time needed to restore the museum piece, project coordinator Master Sgt. Leroy Lewis had no problem completing a task that many told him would be impossible.

“Despite what many had told me, this project was by no means a logistical nightmare; it was a great success,” Lewis said. “People came out of the woodwork to help out -- everyone from around the community.”

It took a year of work and thousands of volunteer man-hours to bring the aircraft up to Air Force Museum standards. But it took only a single afternoon to restore the 17,000-pound display to its place of honor.

Members from the 85th’s Maintenance Squadron, responsible for the upkeep of all of the base’s helicopters and fighters, worked on the F-4 during any downtime they had.

“There are certain standards that you have to follow when restoring a museum piece,” said Staff Sgt. Charles May, assistant project coordinator. “We have to follow all standards set by the Air Force Museum, which owns the aircraft.”

The U.S. Air Force Museum located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, manages the worldwide Air Force Museum system. The system maintains accountability for all U.S. Air Force historical property, including the F-4 museum piece here.

In keeping with the standards set forth by the museum, the airmen working on the F-4 here were required to restore the aircraft to the condition it was in when it was last flown, minus the engines and electronics.

“We wanted to make the aircraft as accurate as possible,” said Staff Sgt. John Trinidad, one of the project painters.

To accomplish this task Trinidad, along with Senior Airman Michael Cotter, researched the color and patterns of other F-4s from the early 1990s.

“The last time that it was painted was 1995,” Trinidad said. “At that time the technology wasn’t available to perform the detailed work that we can now do.”

Using an advanced computer graphics program, the duo of painters were able to recreate the original graphics using pictures of other Air Force F-4s during that generation.

“It’s great to be able to be able to show the beauty of that aircraft,” May said. “I take great pride in being able to drive by it and say, ‘I was a part of that.’ ”

Aside from the F-4’s aesthetic value, students and historians from around Iceland visit the aircraft when studying U.S. military history. (Courtesy of USAFE News Service)