MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Marines with Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 replaced a drag brace on one of the squadrons F/A-18D Hornets here Aug. 30.
With the mission of attacking and destroying surface targets, conducting multi-sensor imagery reconnaissance, providing supporting arms coordination and intercepting and destroying enemy aircraft under allweather conditions, VMFA(AW)- 224 personnel work round the clock to keep their Fighting Bengals mission ready.
Oftentimes people may take for granted the type of work and maintenance that goes into keeping the birds in the air to put the bombs on the ground.
The fact of the matter is that maintenance is necessary to keep the jets maintained continuously and ensure pilots remain safe in the jets.
“(The air framers) were doing a 364 day and found the drag brace was bad,” said Gunnery Sgt. Shawn Sanford, staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge of airframes.
The quick-fix solution to the problem was to get a drag brace from supply; however, once installed they found it was also bad and wouldn’t lock.
The next step was to borrow a drag brace from a jet that wasn’t being used.
“It’s called canning; we cannibalize the airplane,” said Sanford. “This airplane is not going with us to Australia, so we get parts off it for the other airplanes to make sure we get 10 airplanes over there.”
The drag brace is an important part of the aircraft for landing. It allows the landing gear to fold up into a storage space, which is considerably shorter than the in-use length of the landing gear.
“Without (the drag brace), the landing gear would crush and it would literally fall on its face,” said Lance Cpl. Ryan Quillin, air framer with VMFA (AW)-224.
The actual mechanics of the drag brace are difficult to explain, but the main purpose is to act as a shock absorber upon impact of landing.
“The drag brace is a hydraulically actuated telescoping assembly that manually locks the nose gear,” said Quillin.
It took a crew of about five Marines to replace the drag brace on one of the Fighting Bengals here.
“Normally two to three guys can get it done in one shift,” said Quillin. “It’s not difficult at all; it’s one of the easier jobs.”
With VMFA (AW)-224 deployed to Australia, they needed the job done fast and correctly, so the extra help was used to train, maintain and ensure perfection to prevent any type of mishap.
With the new air brace installed, the Fighting Bengals are at the 10 planes needed to roar down under and bring the boom to the outback.