July - Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass

PATRIOT | PAGE 13SouthwestAsia, for six monthsin 2007. He said that deployment was oneof the most memorable times of his careerbecause he learned more about the AirForce then than in the previous 22 years.More than once, people could be hearddescribing him as “the last of the last.”What does this mean?“No one will find anyone like me whohas done these things,” he said. “I guessit’s the old-school flying, the raw datastuff, no GPS, flying the one airframemy whole career and my 22 years here atWestover.”He is the last of his breed. He was thelast of those four lieutenants selected togo to the C-5, has just shy of 8,000 flyinghours, has flown missions for everymajor operation since 1986, has seen anddone just about everything with the C-5,including taking a Christmas tree toSomalia, and is the last of a generationof Westover pilots, including former vicewing commanders Col. Michael Martenand the late Col. PatrickCloutier.“My best friendsin the world comefrom this base andwe do the mission forthe shared experiences,”he said as hetalked about gettingtogether withold friends at an after-workbarbecuescheduled on his lastUTA.“When we get together,we revisit thesestories, and they get embellished overtime, but it’s about the stories. That’s whywe do it,” he said.Lt. Col. Cooke’s retirement ceremonyincluded Maj. Gen. Wade Farris, 22 nd AirForce commander. Maj. Gen. Farris, 439 thAirlift Wing commander from August2003 until June 2008, was the presidingofficial at the ceremony. The nearly 200people who attended the ceremony providedevidence of the quality of Lt. Col.Cooke’s character, the general said.“He worked for me as a pilot and as asafety officer and he is someone I coulddepend on to get the job done with integrityand safety,” Maj. Gen. Farris said.Lt. Col. Cooke’s retirement speechincluded some of those amazing storiesand records - and somepauses. He sought to regain his emotionsas he prepared to close a chapter ofhis life as an Air Force officer.“My whole career at Westover has beengood and I’ll always be a member of the337 th ,” he said, clutching the microphoneand looking out over the audience. “I lovethe airplane, but it’s nothing without thepeople.”-- ENCLOSURE continued from page 8line at Lackland Air Force Base, (part of Joint Base San Antonio)Texas, soon, to build the next one.Not only can this enclosure hold the movable tail stand, ithas its own heating, lighting and fire suppression system. Thecompact fluorescent lights in the new structure provide muchneeded increased lighting for the maintainers.“I think it’s brighter than the existing hangar,” Moore said.Westover is one of only two bases performing isochronalmaintenance for all active duty, reserve, and Air NationalGuard C-5s. Maintenance workers perform this specializedwork in a former B-36 hangar which could not accommodatethe 65-foot high C-5 tail. Over the years, New England’srenowned ferocious winters, which includes wind, snow, andsub-zero temperatures, impacting maintenance schedules.The new structure adds 12,550 square feet of climate controlledworkspace to the regional isochronal hangar. Fourpeople are required to safely open or close each half. Once thedoors are either fully opened or closed there are 10 massive handoperated locks that engage with receptacles in the concrete.This new structure is 80 feet 5 inches tall at its peak, whichis 13 feet taller than the existing hangar it joins. Production ofthe hangar took a crew of seven, plus three separate cranes.Terry Nichols, one of the builders on the project, spoke on thecoordination and effort required to assemble this behemoth.“Picking up big iron like that, you have got to be safe. Positioninga 16,000-pound beam can be tricky,” he said.As busy as the RISO has been over the last few years, competingfor enclosed work space has necessitated the addition of themobile tail enclosure. This is intended to be a temporary fix toa long-term issue in that Westover only has one hangar thatcan enclose the entire C-5. Plans still call for construction of anew maintenance complex which will be large enough to holda C-5’s 247-foot-long fuselage, nose to tail and all.