MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Renovations to aircraft maintenance facilities at the 167th Airlift Wing, Shepherd Field, Martinsburg, West Virginia, began last November and are expected to continue through spring of next year.
The $10 million project will reconfigure the two-story building to house maintenance on the first floor and base operations functions on the second floor. Renovations are being executed in a phased process to minimize disruptions to aircraft maintenance operations.
The 167th Maintenance Group currently occupies both floors of building 307 which adjoins two aircraft hangars.
“This is the first step in our efforts to right-size the base to our authorized footprint for C-17 aircraft operations,” said Maj. Blake Bennett, 167th Civil Engineering Squadron deputy base civil engineer.
The wing grew significantly in manning and square footage during the transition in the early 2000’s from C-130 Hercules to the much larger C-5 Galaxy aircraft. The 167th was also an Isochronal Inspection Site during its C-5 era which added to the allotted square footage. Since the wing’s conversion to C-17 Globemaster aircraft in 2014, the manning and authorized square footage have decreased leaving the base at 155% over its authorized space.
“We are funded per authorized square footage, not our actual square footage,” explained Bennett. “By right-sizing our installation, our funds will go much further in the maintenance of our facilities.”
The project implements recommendations from the wing’s 2015 Installation Development Plan which calls for a series of building renovations and demolitions to right-size the installation.
The current base operations building will be reconfigured to house headquarters, comptroller flight and force support squadron functions. Then, the aging headquarters building will be demolished and converted to green space.