ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BASE TINDAL, Australia -- It had been a long and hot four weeks as maintainers with Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 worked around the clock to get the birds back up and flying every day to ensure the F/A-18 Hornet pilots made their flight schedules during exercise Southern Frontier.
Southern Frontier is an annual, bilateral training exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force to afford VMF (AW)-224, also known as the Fighting Bengals, the opportunity to focus on offensive air support training in order to improve squadron readiness alongside allies and partners.
Even though the unit had completed its training for the exercise, there was still more work to be done.
The last and most important mission for the maintainers was to make sure the jets were mission capable to fly back to Iwakuni, Japan, safely and intact.
To complete their mission, maintainers overcame the challenge of turning 10 jets in approximately 24 hours.
It seemed like an impossible challenge, but with the help of RAAF No. 75 Squadron, they were able to meet the challenge.
VMFA(AW)-224 pilots departed Australia bound for Japan to mark the completion of exercise Southern Frontier Sept. 24.
In order to ensure the safe departure of the jets, maintenance sections within the unit put forth hours of inspections and repairs to various elements of the aircraft.
According to Lance Cpl. Daniel Dougherty, fixed-wing aircraft airframe mechanic with VMFA(AW)-224, some aircraft just required small fixes while others needed more attention.
“On one aircraft, we had to change an aileron shroud, which is a type of flight surface,” said Dougherty. “It increases the aerodynamics of the wing and helps the jet turn better.”
When the squadron needed parts it could not order right away, maintainers took parts from other jets.
“A jet was specified as a cannibalized bird so that parts could be taken from it,” said Lance Cpl. Kyle Duss, fixedwing aircraft airframe mechanic with VMFA(AW)-224.
The squadron was able to use many parts of the jet to ensure the maximum amount of Hornets were mission ready.
VMFA(AW)-224 was able to use the engine, generator, signal data computer, landing gear control valve and other mission essential equipment.
“We will not strip a bird completely,” said Cpl. Jesse Hargreaves, fixedwing aircraft airframes mechanic with VMFA(AW)-224. “We just pull parts out that are easy to put back in so that we can meet flight requirements.”
VMFA(AW)-224 conducts pro flights periodically and also when a jet gets a new part to ensure the jet operates properly.
When a jet gets a new engine, a test flight is necessary to ensure proper performance, said Dougherty. “If there are problems, maintainers have to go and troubleshoot.”
The RAAF provided the squadron with hangars, workspace and an abundance of logistical support in order to assist the squadron with the exercise.
The No. 75 Squadron had shown support to VMFA(AW)-224 throughout the exercise by providing the squadron with spare parts and assistance when needed.
“The [RAAF] assisted the squadron with consumable, high-priority parts and tools,” said Duss. “When we needed a tool or a part, they gave it to us, and we were able to get jets up and flying in the amount of time we needed to.”
VMFA(AW)-224 also had the opportunity to work directly with the No. 75 Squadron, a long-time Australian ally, which also flies F/A-18 Hornet jets.
As the exercise neared completion and the squadron received word about upcoming deployment locations, the maintainers worked through the time crunch with the mission held at high priority.
According to Duss, it was essential to make sure all personnel made it out of Australia in the time allotted.
“If jets are down, that means the squadron has to leave personnel behind until jets are up,” said Duss. “The squadron wants to get out by a certain date and it doesn’t want to have to leave any jets behind. We want to make sure every jet is up, ready to go and ready to fly.”
Many VMFA(AW)-224 maintainers were sent forward to make sure the jets were properly maintained as soon as pilots arrived to Iwakuni.
With manpower cut in half, many felt the weight of the extra workload, but nonetheless, jets were up and out of Australia bound toward the next mission.