This week in AFLCMC history - February 21 - 27, 2022

  • Published
  • By Air Force Life Cycle Management Center History Office
In this edition of Heritage Hangar, you'll learn about old and new airplanes and tidbits of what happened this week many years ago. 
 
21 Feb 1975 (Tinker AFB/Propulsion Dir.) 

The first Pratt & Whitney TF33-100A jet engine, powerplant of the E-3A Air-borne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, rolled out of the Directorate of Maintenance production line at Tinker AFB. Earlier, on 12 Feb, management of the E-3A was assigned to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, which provided depot-level and technology repair for the system. The TF33 was developed in an earlier iteration for the B-52 program, adapted for commercial airliners, such as the Boeing 707s that were converted to AWACS, and used in multiple other Air Force aircraft, including the KC-135 and C-141. 

22 Feb 1988 (Bombers Dir./Tinker AFB) 
 
Secretary of the Air Force Edward C. Aldridge, Jr., announced that the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC) at Tinker AFB would be the system manager and primary depot facility for the Northrop B-2 Spirit bomber. That office/responsibility is now part of the Air Force Sustainment Center. AFLCMC’s B-2 Division in the Bombers Directorate is located at Wright-Patterson AFB. Exactly nine months after this announcement, the B-2 had its public debut when it rolled out of its hangar at Plant 42, Palmdale California. Its first flight occurred the following July. Twenty B-2s continue to serve the Air Force. The photo shows a B-2 with some of the many support personnel at Tinker in 2021. 

23 Feb 1956 (AFLCMC) 
 
Air Force Secretary Donald Quarles directed that “all possible effort” go to demonstrating the North American XSM-64 Navaho intercontinental nuclear cruise missile, “at the earliest possible date… with the highest Air Force priority.” Started in the 1940s, the Mach 3+ ramjet-powered Navaho was anticipated as an interim strategic deterrent before ICBMs were operational. However, significant technical, programmatic, and funding issues slowed the program, which was cancelled in 1957. Its organizational impact was more significant, as its failure was part of the impetus that removed ICBM development management from Wright Field, separated the Systems Program Offices from the laboratories, and ultimately created Air Force Systems Command. 

24 Feb 1970 (Digital Dir.—Hanscom/Tinker) 
 
The Tactical and Survivable Communications Systems Program Office at Hanscom transferred engineering and support responsibilities for the Survivable Low Frequency Communication System (487L) to the Oklahoma City Air Materiel Area at Tinker AFB. This system provided a reliable, secure emergency communications system to pass command and control messages between the President, the national military command structure, and Strategic Air Command Forces. It had both ground and airborne components to maintain those links during and after a nuclear attack. The map here shows locations of the various ground stations for the system. 

25 Feb 1992 (Propulsion Directorate) 

Pratt & Whitney delivered the first production F117-PW- 100 engine to the Air Force. Slated for the Douglas (now Boeing) C-17 Globemaster III, this high-bypass turbofan engine was derived from the commercial PW2000 used on the Boeing 757. It added directed-flow thrust reversers to enable short-field landings and ramp maneuvering. Developmental versions of the F117 powered the C- 17 on its first flight in September 1991. The last of the 1,313 F117s was delivered in 2016. 

26 Feb 1974 (Fighters & Adv. Aircraft Dir.) 

The first in-flight firing of the General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon by the Fairchild YA-10A Thunderbolt II prototype. This 7-barrel Gatling-type gun can fire 3,900 rounds per minute, of either armor-piercing high-explosive or depleted uranium shells, primarily for destroying tanks. Its magazine typically carries 1150 rounds. The sheer size of the cannon, shown at right compared to a Cessna, required the A-X competitors to design their planes around it. These early firing flight tests showed a tendency for the A-10 engine to ingest the gun’s combustion gasses and flame out, requiring modification. 

27 Feb 1955 (Tinker AFB) 

The 506th Tactical Fighter Wing began its relocation from Dow AFB, Maine, to Tinker AFB, with 1,000 officers & enlisted men and 75 F-84F airplanes. These new –F models had a more powerful J65 engine and weighed 20% more than the G (which came out first). As a result, the runway at Dow couldn’t accommodate them like Tinker’s that was designed for strategic bombers. The 506th was part of the last group of fighters assigned to Strategic Air Command for bomber escort.