AF personnel converge at Whiteman AFB to keep B-2 Spirit cool

Photo By Staff Sgt. Thomas Barley | Barbara Douglas, program manager, HQ AFMC B-2 system program office, poses for a photo on July 18th, 2019, at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. Douglas leads the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning program in charge of finding a replacement HVAC system for the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Thomas Barley)  

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, MO, UNITED STATES

07.18.2019

Story by Staff Sgt. Kayla White 

509th Bomb Wing

Members of the 509th Maintenance Squadron tested five Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) units to evaluate potential new cooling options for the B-2 Spirit.
Barbara Douglas, a civilian employee assigned to the HQ AFMC B-2 system program office, functioned as the program manager for the project.
The B-2’s current ground HVAC system, the PD-501, is aging and difficult to sustain from a maintenance perspective, she said.
“We are testing multiple units to see if any of them will fit the bill as a replacement,” said Douglas.
The personnel who facilitated the testing came from the seven different organizations to Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, from July 15-19, 2019.
They came from:
-Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command common support equipment office
-AF Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
-AF Lifecycle management center B-2 offices at Tinker and Wright-Patterson AFB
- AF Lifecycle management center HVAC office from Robins AFB
- The University of Dayton Research Institute

Douglas credited Master Sgt. Jeremy Longo with the overall success of the week.
Longo, the aerospace ground equipment production superintendent, along with other members of Whiteman’s maintenance team, worked to coordinate the delivery of different HVAC systems from across the country AF, including Ellsworth, Dyess, Tinker, and Northrup Grumman.
“Master sergeant Longo was absolutely critical to accomplishing this high priority test in a very short time,” she said.
Senior Master Sgt. Mark Haralson, the lead command aerospace ground equipment functional manager assigned to HQAFMC at Wright-Patterson AFB, described what the team was looking for during this week of testing.
“We are essentially looking at the output temperature, volume, pressure of all five units and then weighing them against the specifications of the B-2,” he said.

• Date Taken: 07.18.2019
• Date Posted: 07.26.2019 10:22
• Story ID: 333041
• Location: WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, MO, US