Naval Air Depot Jacksonville Repairs F-14 Tomcat Stranded in Kuwait
by Daphne Burke, NADEP Public Affairs Specialist

Naval Air Depot Jacksonville’s (NADEP JAX) personnel support the fleet at home and around the world. A team of F-14 artisans and technicians recently flew to Kuwait to repair a damaged Tomcat. The F-14 carrier-based fighter jet was diverted to Al Jaber, Kuwait after experiencing a tailhook departure while attempting to land aboard the USS Constellation (CV 64). An examination of the aircraft revealed that replacement of the Fuselage Station (FS) 737 center frame was required. A repair never before performed in the field.

Field Service Engineering Technician Donald McMillian, Quality Assurance (QA) Specialist Warren Woods, and Sheetmetal artisans William Houk and David West volunteered to travel to Kuwait to repair the damaged F-14 aircraft. After attending Means of Personal Protection and Anti-Terrorism training, the repair team departed for Kuwait.

Once in Kuwait, the FS 737 frame was removed and the team disassembled the aircraft removing brackets and clips. Subsequently, the frame was shipped to NADEP JAX for transfer of critical bolt holes used to secure canted frames to the FS 737 center frame.

Engineers Nick Smichnick and John Salemi, Numerically Controlled (NC) Machine Programmers Norman Gay and Jamie Rupert, QA Specialist Ellie Brock, and Machinists David Baul and Paul White, immediately started the hole transfer process. The hole transfer process requires manufacturing of a fixture to support the damaged frame while the holes are being probed to ascertain their location. Probing is a method used to pick up several points on the holes. The NC Machine then calculates the hole center and stores it in memory. Once the probing is completed, the damaged frame is removed from the fixture and the replacement frame is installed. The stored data is then used to transfer the holes from the damaged frame to the replacement frame. With long hours of work, the hole transfer process was completed. On the same day work was finished, the frame was shipped back to Kuwait.

The NADEP JAX repair team received the frame four days later and directly confirmed through a trial fit that the holes were properly transferred. Over the next four weeks, the repair team transferred skin holes and reamed them to size. The final frame and boattail installation was finished 10 days later. From the time the damage occurred to the time the repair was complete was about five months.

Kudos to these stellar performers who are dedicated to supporting the fleet through their work at NADEP JAX and in remote locations around the globe.

-- USN --