Coming back soon

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Andrew Biscoe
  • 439th AW Public Affairs
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --  It was 1985. Then-Airman 1st Class James Mitchell watched history unfold at Dover Air Force Base, Del., as the base received its first C-5B Galaxy. Now a chief master sergeant, Mitchell recently bid farewell here to one of the last B-models of the Air Force's largest airlifter.

Aircraft 041 -- second to the last of 50 C-5B's built during the Reagan Administration, departed Westover Nov. 22, bound for Lockheed-Martin at Marietta, Ga. Workers will remove the aging General Electric TF-39 engines and install much more powerful, quieter and fuel-efficient ones. The "newer" C-5 also features all-new lighting inside the massive airlifter's 121-foot-long cargo deck and passenger compartment.

Westover's 439th Airlift Wing, equipped with C-5s since 1987, will again make history next year, when the first re-engined C-5 arrives here as a C-5M Super Galaxy by late spring, said Lt. Col. Jordan Murphy, 439th Maintenance Squadron commander. Once the entire conversion is complete, the wing will fly eight C-5Ms.

Lockheed's modifications give new life to an aging airframe.

"It's not just a re-engined aircraft," Murphy said. "Lockheed gets in there and replaces all the electrical wiring. So much comes back modified. We'll have eight brand new aircraft."

Meanwhile, Westover maintainers anticipate an easier time when it comes to the periodic engine maintenance. The whine and growl of the TF-39 engines - familiar to those on the flight line and to surrounding Pioneer Valley communities - will be replaced by more powerful and quieter CF6 turbofans.

They'll require less maintenance.

While the B-models are nearly all gone, older C-5A models have been transferred from the 433rd Airlift Wing at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Mitchell said these aircraft, built in 1969 and 1970, are much more challenging for maintenance crews, primarily due to their age. Some of the aircraft are former C-5s from the 439th dating back to the 1980s, he said.

The A-models will remain at Westover until next summer before being flown to their final resting spot at the Air Force "boneyard" in Arizona, Murphy said.

Westover isochronal maintenance area has already adapted the future all-C-5M fleet, Murphy said. A blended force of air reserve technicians, active duty Airmen, and civilians sustains a 24-hour operation with frequent M-model ISO work. Minor ISO work on the C-5 fleet is performed here; the major ISO is located at Dover, where the Patriot Wing's only remaining B-model, aircraft 043 is undergoing work before it too heads to Lockheed-Martin.

Westover performed an ISO inspection on its last C-5B on Nov. 22. From now on, only M-models will go through the routine inspection here.

Several maintainers were on hand to say goodbye to aircraft 041 Nov. 22. But Mitchell said it wasn't really a goodbye. Nearly a decade into C-5B operations, Westover will soon unfold another chapter with the arrival of the Super Galaxy in 2017.

"We got it on its way," he said. "We know it's coming back."

As the 21st century Air Force continues to evolve, plans call for the fleet of 52 modified C-5s to continue to shoulder much of the strategic airlift needs until about 2040.

That means continued relevance for Westover and the 439th, Murphy said.

"We're going to be around for a long time," he said.