The White Falcon - 03.12.1965, Blaðsíða 4

4
ALL ABOARD—The pilot, Lt Raymond D. Avila, and crewman, Larry
T. Hatthorn, ADR2, man their aircraft to prepare for take-off on a
SAR alert.
POWER PLANTS—Chief Aviation Machinist Mate James R. Carter
supervises the work as Robert It. Mulvey, ADRAN, (top) and Michael
G. Babcock, ADRAN, (below) work on an engine.
MAINTENANCE CONTROL—William E.M. Biddle, AZ3, checks the air-
craft log book as Charles P. Althar, AZAN, tabulates the hours on the
adding machine.
WHITE I- ALCON
Friday, December 3, 1965
Friday, December 3, 1965
WHITE FALCON
5
*
Have you ever heard of OMD?
If you haven’t, don’t feel neglect-
ed, for this division is very little
publicized. Yet, it plays an inte-
gral part in the operation and
morale of this station.
The letters OMD stand for
Operations Maintenance Division.
Their duties are rather diversi-
fied and run the gamut from
maintaining the station’s aircraft
to operation of the Sea-Air-Res-
cue (SAR) service at this sta-
tion. The following paragraphs
will attempt to give a brief re-
sume of this division’s duties and
accomplishments.
OMD Complement
OMD has only 92 personnel as-
signed, yet, they are responsible
for the maintenance of fourC-47s
two U6As two UH34s, (heli-
copters) one C-54, and one C-121.
The helicopters are on 24-hour
call. Normally, one is on one-
hour-standby and the other avail-
able for five-minute-alert. These
helicopters have performed two
missions in recent months: one in
which five men were rescued from
a capsized boat; and the other, the
rescue of an Icelandic Police Offi-
cer, Johann Love, whose story is
also told in this paper.
PAPER MILL— Behind every maintenance effort goes a great deal of paper work. Here is where the administrative work is done and the
important decisions are made to keep OMD going strong. (Photos by Singer, AN)
*
the provisioning and personnel re-
placement of the radar sites.
These aircraft transport an aver-
age of 80 personnel to the sites
per month.
Meanwhile, the station U6As
make four support flights per
month to the U.S. Coast Guard
Loran Station at Sandur.
So, to summarize to some ex-
tent on the flying of the division,
they average upwards of 400
flight hours per month, in which
are carried an average of 280
passengers and 45,000 lbs. of
cargo.
Maintenance
This, however, is only the be-
ginning. When the flying is over
and the birds are on the ground,
the real work begins. For every
hour the aircraft spends in the
air an average of four hours
maintenance is required to keep it
flying.
The maintenance story is parti-
ally told in the pictures on this
page but it would be impossible
to tell in the space here of the
gruelling hours of training and
supervision behind each hour of
actual maintenance. At OMD
safety is the watchword and as
any serviceman knows supervision
is essential for safety.
R and Rs, Your Liberty
Have you ever taken an R and R? These too, come under the
realm of OMD’s services to the station. Each month OMD flies six
R and Rs to Europe and makes two stateside flights. The aircraft
used for these flights are the C-54 and the C-121. These planes carry
over 200 passengers per month to choice leave and liberty spots.
H-2 and H-3
While the C-54 and the C-121 crews are flying these missions, the
C-47 crews are also hard at the flying task. There are four flights
each week to the Sites, H-2 and H-3. These flights are essential to
QUALITY CONTROL—James L. Cromwell, AMS1, checks engine as
Chief Aviation Electronics Technician David R. Hewett, notes the
discrepencies. Every job done by OMD is checked and rechecked to
insure flight safety.
Transient Line
Another branch of the OMD division is the Transient Line. There
job is the servicing, fueling, and, when necessary, the maintenance
of all planes other than station and Loftleider aircraft landing here
at the station. This includes aircraft to an astounding figure of
about 1,636 per month or nearly 20,000 per year. Those of you with
flying experience know that’s a lot of planes.
OMD Vs Squadron
To sum up the OMD story, compare the operation of this division
with that of an operational squadron. With 92 men and ten aircraft,
OMD does the job that would normally be done by a squadron of 300
men who might have only nine airplanes to maintain. That means
many hours of constant back-breaking work by the officers and men
of the Operations Maintenance Division.
'V

SNOW TIRES FOR A C-47—Air Frames personnel are shown winteriz-
ing the station aircraft with snow tires. Leonard F. Chormanski,
AMSAN, mans the jack, and Roger D. Marr, AMEAN, loosens the lugs
as William R. Moye, AMH2, supervises the operation.
READY FOR TURN-UP—Transient Line personnel man their stations
in preparation for turn-up of a RCAF Argus. From left to right, they
are Chester R. Lensbouer, ADRAN, who signals the pilot with a wand;
Kenneth D. Ramsey, AN, mans the fire bottle; while Joe W. Powers,
ADR1, supervises to insure that the job is done in the SAFE prescribed
method.
MOVING THE AIRCRAFT—Jeffrey L. Armstrong, AN, is at the wheel
as a C-47 transport is towed into the hangar. Jurgen Doepping, ADR2,
watches the starboard wingtip to prevent collisions. George, a division-
mascot, hitches a free ride on the tractor. Great care is taken to in-
sure aircraft safety while being towed. The break rider and port wing-
walker are not shown.
READ YOU FOUR-BY-FOUR— Arthur O. Charpentier, ATRAN,
checks out the aircraft’s radios to insure good communication, one of
the many duties of OMD’s technicians.