McConnell Reservists accomplish nine-ship launch

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Abigail Klein
  • 931st Air Refueling Group
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  When the Aircraft Maintenance Group superintendent announced a plan to the 931 Air Refueling Group Commander to launch nine McConnell KC-135s within thirty-second intervals, it wasn't a requirement, it was because Chief Master Sgt. John McDermott knew they could do it.

"Our maintenance group came to me and said they wanted to pushed; they succeeded." said Col. Mark S. Larson, 931st ARG commander.  "Their efforts in this launch are a testament to our Airmen's ability to respond and participate at a moment's notice."

The launch, which occurred October 4, during a monthly unit training assembly, included more than 60 Reservists from the 931st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, and more than 40 Reservists from the operations squadron.

"The purpose of this exercise was to examine the 931st AMXS' ability to perform basic mission-essential tasks required to meet its designed operational capability statement; specifically prepare for launch, 'redball' response, launch, recovery, and thru-flight, "said McDermott.  "The intent was not to determine if we could launch aircraft; the intent was to challenge ourselves by simultaneously launching nine aircraft."

To accomplish this, the 931st AMXS would need to launch more than their standard four aircraft during the unit training assembly.  To meet the challenge, nine aircraft were split into two cells.  Each aircraft maintenance unit had primary responsibility for a cell. 

To remain true to the format created by McDermott, a mix of ART and traditional reservist personnel were accumulated.  Each aircraft was limited to three crew-chiefs assigned; one ART, two TRs.  The Specialists were limited to one each ART and TR for each specialty within each cell.

"Trying to launch nine aircraft on dual runways is never easy, but they really wanted to see how far they could push our sortie generations capability," said Master Sgt. Warren Bearup, 931st Operations Support Squadron long-range scheduling non-commissioned officer in charge.

After taking off in thirty-second intervals, and a formation flight, two of the aircraft launched would then fly to Forbes Field and return with duty passengers, and also in this case, McConnell Reservists returning from a deployment to Southwest Asia. 

McDermott also wanted the sight of nine aircraft launching in such quick succession to serve as an inspiration to the junior Airmen within the squadron, some of whom have never seen a massive launch.

One Airman was Tech. Sgt. Ethan Elkins, 931st AMXS crew chief, who joined the unit in 2010. 

"It was awesome to see the full effect of what we were capable of," he said.  "Overall, it was a great partnership between our maintenance and operations squadrons.

McDermott also said he was impressed with the Maintenance and Operations Squadron's efforts because they were able to rise to the challenge they set for themselves.

"[The aircraft] are machines, and they don't always work," he said.  "I wanted to see what we could do as a squadron, and I'm really pleased with how it all went."