Photo By Airman 1st Class Nathan Langston | Chad Clement, U.S. Air Force 97th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron hydraulic specialist,...... read more read more
Maintainers assigned to the 97th Maintenance Squadron and 97th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron earned “Knuckle Buster” awards after completing two separate KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft repairs that demanded uncommon field-level repair capability, requiring multi-shift teamwork to return both aircraft to mission-ready status.
The Knuckle Buster award recognizes above-and-beyond maintenance tied to complex or time-sensitive tasks, often work typically accomplished at depot-level facilities. The two award-winning efforts highlighted how Altus maintainers sustain one of the Air Force’s oldest operational fleets through hands-on expertise and disciplined technical execution.
“This award usually coincides with something unusual,” said Jeffrey Gobeille, 97th Maintenance Squadron director. “This type of maintenance is usually accomplished at depot-level facilities, repairs like this are not done very often at the field level.”
In the first effort, 97th MXS maintainers repaired a KC-135 following a severe bird strike that punctured the leading edge “armpit” area. Teardown revealed extensive internal damage. With the aircraft’s age making parts procurement difficult, the exterior skin remained salvageable while the internal support structure behind it was not. The team fabricated replacement structure from raw material, shaping and forming the pieces to match the required contours and rebuilt the attachment points so the new structure could be installed and the aircraft restored.
The repair effort involved maintainers spread across multiple shifts, totaling roughly 291 work hours, with work leaders providing oversight and coordination.
In the second effort, 97th AMXS KC-135 maintainers executed a maintenance action rarely performed at the field level: replacement of main landing gear trunnions, the pivot points the landing gear swings on during retraction. The job required fully jacking the aircraft, removing both main landing gears, replacing the trunnions and reinstalling the entire system. The team ran a three-shift operation and completed the work in under 72 hours, returning the aircraft to fly with a strong first sortie after the repair.
“For them to be able to get in there and knock it out while doing a great job; the jet flew excellent on the first flight out,” said Charles Goodwin, 97th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron flight chief. “It’s a well-deserved award.”
Trunnion replacement is typically associated with programmed depot maintenance, where aircraft undergo heavy teardown, repairs and modifications on a cycle. Completing that level of work at Altus underscored the ability to solve high-impact problems locally, even as the KC-135 fleet continues to demand mechanically intensive, old-school maintenance skillsets.
Together, the two Knuckle Buster award efforts captured the range of expertise required to generate KC-135 airpower at Altus, from precision backshop fabrication to heavy landing gear work, and reinforced that readiness is built through the often-unseen work that keeps aircraft safe, reliable, and ready to fly.
| Date Taken: | 02.05.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2026 17:07 |
| Story ID: | 557555 |
| Location: | ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 70 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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