Dedicated crew chief SSgt. Benjamin Norton and assistant crew chief A1C Jason Edwards earlier this week delivered a B-52 bomber with “no known discrepancies,” a very rare occurrence for an aircraft of its vintage—about 48 years old. Col. Steven Shinkle, 2nd Maintenance Group commander, called the feat by the two Barksdale AFB, La., airmen “an amazing testament” to their work. “Having absolutely no write ups on an aircraft of this age is no easy task,” he said. Norton and Edwards took charge of this particular bomber about nine months ago, when it had more than 1,600 maintenance discrepancies that needed fixing. Veteran maintainer SMSgt. Jeff Williams said, “I know of only seven other cases in my 12 years of B-52 experience where a crew chief launched a perfect jet.” (Barksdale report)
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.