755th AMXS to receive long-awaited hangar

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jamie L. Coggan
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  The 55th Electronic Combat Group held a ground-breaking ceremony here July 2 to celebrate the new 755th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron hangar and aircraft maintenance unit facility.

"This hangar will be a major step forward in our ability to provide combat ready forces for the Global War on Terror," said Col. Mark Haskins, commander of the 55th ECG. "It is the appropriate pat on the back for the men and women of the 755th AMXS; they are the 'World's Best Maintainers' and they deserve the best facilities."

The squadron's present facilities are functionally inadequate. Construction of a new hangar will provide one consolidated office and hangar facility for EC-130H COMPASS CALL maintenance.

The project also includes the demolition of the current 7,578 sq. ft. maintenance office facility, which houses the AMXS' support section. This building is located in the airfield "clear zone," and demolishing it will eliminate a large airfield obstruction.

In 2002, with the deactivation of the 42nd Airborne Command and Control Squadron, the 755th AMXS was ready to move in to the 42nd's vacated facility. Unfortunately, that vision never materialized.

At the same time, the Air Force decided to stand up the 563rd Rescue Group's combat search and rescue mission here at D-M. With that change, the HC-130 portion of that mission was granted ownership of the 42nd ACCS' facilities. In exchange, AFSOC agreed to provide the 55th Electronic Combat Group funding to build a completely new facility at some point in the future.

According to Jim Barker, chief of the engineering flight, the dream that seemed so close was pushed further away in the rising construction costs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The new 755th AMXS facility was prioritized on the CSAR military construction project list, with a restricted size and more limited funding that originally planned. At one point, the hangar, and not the attached office space was the only portion of the project slated for funding. Fortunately, the bidding climate turned around and the Air Force was able to award a contract for the combined facility.

"There were times we were worried that it was just going to be a pipe dream to finally get a hangar, but through lots of hard work between the CE Engineers here at Davis-Monthan and the Army Corps of Engineers, we managed to get it designed, funded and awarded within budget," said Chief Master Sgt. David Metz, maintenance superintendent of the 755th AMXS. "Not only did we get the hangar, but an attached AMU that will house all our maintainers and support section, along with a huge parking lot and landscaping. We are definitely excited to finally have a place we can call our own and be able to perform heavy maintenance and inspections out of the weather."

Straub Construction, Inc. of Tucson won the contract, with a construction period of 495 days, setting the completion date for September 2009.