48 years old...and perfect

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  • By Staff Reports
  • 2d Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  A pair of Barksdale maintainers earned a rare honor on Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Benjamin Norton and Airman 1st Class Jason Edwards, dedicated crew chief and assistant crew chief respectively, of B-52 tail # 60-0021, signed off on a "black letter initial" jet.

"Sergeant Norton placed his initial over the 'status of today' symbol block," explained Capt. Jon Izworski, 2d Aircraft Maintenance Unit, officer in charge.
"This indicated no known discrepancies exist and all inspections are complied with"

A discrepancy can range from a simple fix such as a burnt out light bulb or to a more complex problem such as a delaminated body panel or electrical issue.

When Sergeant Norton took charge of his jet nine months ago it had more than 1600 discrepancies; following the 2d Maintenance group motto "it's our job to be the best" Sergeant Norton and his assistant Airman Edwards set out to clear their jet's maintenance record.

Clearing the record and producing a perfect jet was a difficult task for such an old bomber. Sergeant Norton's jet was delivered to the Air Force during the Eisenhower administration and was providing airpower nine years before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

"Having absolutely no write ups on an aircraft this age is no easy task," said Col. Steven E. Shinkle, 2d Maintenance Group commander. "This accomplishment serves an amazing testament to Sergeant Norton and Airman Edward's dedication and the excellent work they do."

"I know of only seven other cases in my 12 years of B-52 experience where a crew chief launched a perfect jet," said Senior Master Sgt. Jeff Williams, 2 AMU aircraft section chief. "I am proud of Sergeant Norton's dedication and I expect this drive to permeate throughout the maintenance group."

In the end, this prefect story almost never happened; the Buff needed two final repairs before Tuesday to earn the prefect record.

"Senior Airmen William Edmisten and Matthew Zive of 2d Maintenance Squadron's Fabrication Flight stepped up to repair the last two discrepancies to ensure Sergeant Norton's goal of launching out a black letter initial jet was attained" said Colonel Shinkle.

Colonel Shinkle added, "This was a team effort; it couldn't have been done without the amazing job our maintainers are doing throughout the group and that's how we do it at Barksdale."

(Capt. Jon Izworski 2 AMU/OIC and 1 Lt Frank Hartnett 2 BW/PA contributed to this story)