Men of Maintenance: Southeast Asia

a flight of thunder Chiefs arrives back at his face from a bombing run over North Vietnam [Music] an hour and a half north six minutes Alex argument 90 minutes back a piece of cake makers are a dry throat mission the command will have the pilots stories within the hour and tomorrow's missions will be planned accordingly but something else comes first the man on the flight line the crew chief is crazy he's got to know right now how the birds look there are problems he'll have the panel's open for a look before the pilot gets across the field there's one more stuff before the intelligence room maintenance debriefing the pilot wardrobe malfunction junction take off with the standby come on nearby one transmit no green light so I went back to stand by the white light maintenance men listen hard notating everything its technical talk about little lights little gauges little noises that didn't quite stop the mission this time next time they could be a matter of life or death so before the next mission maintenance goes to work in fact whatever the base in South Vietnam or Thailand maintenance never stops modern aircraft are complex machines for every hour of flight a fighter plane needs about 40 man hours of maintenance on the crop well it takes a lot of time to get one of these birds flying it takes many support specialist maintaining systems we have our electronics specialist and i and ii squadron that maintain our national navigation system fire control communications electronic countermeasures all these systems are vital for admissions up in north vietnam specialist to maintain exotic equipment that's a part of the story but there's another part if you're wondering about the man who once proudly called himself a grease monkey he's right here greasy as ever and just as important in this man's airports we're changing its owner on this terrible engine exhaust illness stud in his own summer as warm out a hole to logic an oversized said it's not have been replaced this engine on the caribou takes quite a beating at it the airplane slides a lot of time in short mission due to 10 minutes or even less sometimes and on the short field takeoffs and landings at the car quite a bit at all bases in Southeast Asia maintenance works around the clock daytime and nighttime lose their meaning there's only turnaround time repair time and how long before the plane is operationally ready maintenance control center directs the operation the mobile maintenance unit is a troubleshooter on wheels in touch with all elements and the more we cannot be known on that man a bad indicator I don't know turnaround time is shortened by utilizing the latest in technology this is an engine oil analyzing now ready to analyze the oil which will it take 30 to 35 seconds it takes 300 hours to overhaul an engine by analyzing the different square metal and repairing them we've saved approximately 250 hours man hours for engine but the lonely s trip in the boondocks like this one deep in the delat there's the other kind of that was job in South Vietnam essentially we've got three forward air controllers with this ford base two airplanes the crew chiefs to maintain we keep them going all the time each board air controller flies at least a hundred dollars a month for those 300 hours a month long these airplanes and flown regular right there were just fooling with known as our basic socialite inspection system look based in section that we pull after each slice it to get ready to fly enemies elation we have charlie is busy or well we start first thing in the morning close it up a night work all night if we have crew chief has to follow through keep the airplane ready anytime turn around in five minutes or work out all day to get it ready for a night mission I'm surprised you haven't heard the rifle fire out of here ordinarily somebody is taking a few potshots out of here this is supposed to be a pacified canal but we know we have Charlie here in fact 52 months ago we had a sniper that was working off the other end of the runway down here I don't think it's completely pacified actually remember with your team or oh yes yes he likes to go out to feeling work with us so we decided we just take him on our link make him honorary crew chief said he helps us out and he does a little bit everything out there he really knows what he's doing is a real chance kid and he recently we found out he wasn't one to prove so we start adopting him and we say a tuition was sending a school man some would say that keeping a boy in school is an act of faith in the future so it is but on the flight line there's no time to philosophize just do the job aircraft electronics is a far cry from Coventry but not in a combat zone this is something we do here helping our own self for all these fencing section work just quality control and all the voices there are highly skilled technician as well as partners if you can pick you over here not a few bases mother nature provides a burden equally hard on men and machines blowing sand the only thing maintenance men can't fix is the weather at all bases there are three kinds very hot very wet opal and yet they do the job you're still here there's the noise always to know our evening shift is probably more fortunate than the people working days during the intense heat our barracks are located approximately three-quarters or a mile from the flight line away from the high noise level and we are able to rest better than the people that are working here during the day shift nobody's complaining but what are you doing after we don't go to work the midnight ready now pulsus they sleep announced about 127 a night flight out for just one over let's shot the night's rest good old bird patrol man licks me up every morning even if I can swim in three o'clock in the morning and they take off 330 night wake up on this plane then there's one more environmental problem named Charlie on April of 15 for the approximately 12 20 in the morning rockets coming over a hill 327 I woke up and Howard is we were under attack everybody get out well we come down the steps here and as you know that this is new perks ours burnt down in the attack but we had sandbags between the outside the wall so most of us from upstairs failed anything behind the sandbags and crawl up there as far as we could so make room for everybody else and then one of the Rockets come over and landed about 25 feet promise right over in here all day every day that's the routine all over Southeast Asia Americans far from home sometimes think lonely thoughts but I'm the occasional day off [Music] I [Music] some men have the knack of turning a longing for home into a blessing sergeant Richardson as a man like that eight young ones of his own waiting for him back home until he returns these inmates of the st. Paul orphanage Aras substitute this is the Catholic office here in the central highlands of play coop well we make this man and some of the other staff members work towards helping the optimist to build things and it can to help the children be comfortable and have some of the enjoyment long after we've all gone home a generation of Vietnamese children will remember the tall Americans all the while work goes on on occasion however a maintenance man has this moment this is what these words I hear you got to make that yes sir I get the free lucky turn off the target growth the right put the free brief or join up the flight and then after come around the right I looked over up to all 105 with two MiG's on sale and so I broke down on the mix I don't think every storm is the first this airplane is back with not one but two mixed kills in a single battle and there's not a mark on his brain always the maintenance crew wants to hear it all they've sweat it over that airplane pampered it tuned it like a violin when it does it's job that's music to their ears Webster isn't damn good fight I could finding wrong with a bird thank you let me shake your hands on that we're going to return your from Tennessee like knowledge a Memphis night like telephones back Tennessee this this wing it just blown is 50,000 combat our only reason we could do it is because it's been like this and a lot of other just like it and put it takes away his buddy war the maintenance man has always been a key figure in the successes of the United States Air Force in one respect he has not changed he's still a guy who works around the clock to get air force aircraft and equipment and top condition for the next mission no matter how tired whether dirty he gets in the process another respect he has changed for example he must be familiar with the delicate and sophisticated electronic and avionics equipment that we now have in our aircraft at the same time he must document his actions and the performance of his equipment so that the lessons learned can be used for future improvements we've always been very proud of the stamina and can-do attitude know how the maintenance man in the Air Force the justification of that pride I feel is at every base in Southeast Asia we're flying more hours more diversified missions than ever before and we're doing this with a exceptional reliability and a high degree of confidence that we're going to meet all the schedules the maintenance man is a good subject for a movie in my opinion because he's always moving this film is highlighted his role and nine states air force it's the most significant goal I feel will never keep the girl and important [Music]