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Marines keep jets corrosion-free

Marine Corps News

Story Identification #: 2005420224021
Story by Cpl. Jonathan K. Teslevich

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. (April 20, 2005) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. drives in races around the country in one of the highest performance vehicles ever made; making sure the car and all its parts are operating in good order, is a team of professional maintainers.

The F/A-18C Hornet is little different from Earnhardt's ride. It also holds the title of one the hottest aircraft to ever take to the skies and requires an army of mechanics with varied specialties to keep it knifing through the air without falling apart.

The Marines with the 'Smokes' Corrosion Control, Airframes, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 134, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, perform the critical portion of maintaining the Hornets flown at Miramar through an extensive process of corrosion inspection, repair and aesthetic improvements.

"Right now we have four Marines in our section taking care of the squadron aircraft, which keeps us really busy, because we only have a day crew 'stay crew', unlike a lot of other maintenance sections," said Lance Cpl. Dana E. Mcnulty, ejection seat mechanic, working with the corrosion control section. "About every 84 days we do a full inspection of the aircraft looking for damage like chipped paint-- the leading indicator of possible corrosion of the metal underneath the protective layers of paint.

"We'll sand the paint down and repaint the surface, but it has to be dry so the paint doesn't lose its protective qualities by running from moisture."

Identifying and fixing the dangerous damage to the aircraft's components is recognized by the corrosion control Marines.

"We don't have the most exciting jobs, but if we don't find the damaged parts, then an aircraft flying hundreds of miles per hour at 30,000 feet with rusted pieces of metal can come apart pretty quickly," said the Concord, N.H native. "We can't let that happen."

The rust hounds with Corrosion Control also take pride in the work they do.

"These are our jets, our responsibility, the pilots they're great, but they just temporarily borrow them to fly," said Lance Cpl. Mark, A. Varela, an Odessa, Texas, native and corrosion control technician, Corrosion Control, Airframes, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 134.

In addition to the full inspections, the Corrosion Control Marines are responsible for labeling new aircraft or aircraft the Smokes received from other squadrons, a process of that takes about five days.

"We paint the things like the national star, aircraft and squadron number used to identify it, and warnings on the jet," Mcnulty stated. "The warnings are put on the plane for safety reasons and say thing like, 'beware of blast', 'don't step' or 'step here'.

"These warnings are really important for the new people to the section and squadron, especially because we work with reservists that don't see the aircraft except for on drill weekends," concluded Mcnulty.