News

A Living Legacy: Team Robins celebrates milestone projecting power, still keeping ’em flying

  • Published
  • By Angela Woolen
  • Robins Public Affairs

Robins Air Force Base has been involved in every major war, contingency and humanitarian effort since World War II.

“If it flew, it came here at some point in time,” said Dr. William Head, base historian.

In the last 75 years, Robins has seen its share of triumphs.

The first plane which arrived here was a C-47, followed by an A-20.

“It’s amazing to think that was the start,” Head said.

After that, the depot has seen everything from fighters and bombers to cargo and attack aircraft.

About 600 B-29 airplanes were mothballed at Robins, ironically in the same location as the history office sits in Bldg. 955.

Groundbreaking took place Sept. 1, 1941, and by May 1942, there were 6,600 laborers who’d worked to build the base.

Head remembered hearing a story about the roofs of the buildings at Robins being camouflaged so well during the Second World War that pilots often had a hard time seeing the airstrip.

“We didn’t know if we were going to win the war. It is strange to think that since World War II, we’ve spent our whole lives thinking that no one would really attack America,” Head said.

One of the biggest boons to the base was the Berlin Airlift in 1947. Robins provided the cargo planes flying the supplies in with 200,000 spark plugs for the C-46 and 47 aircraft to keep them running.

The 50s

In the 1950s, the Korean War started and with it, Robins became the unofficial cargo center of the Air Force. The center also refurbished and put into service the mothballed B-29 planes which helped to cut off enemy supplies and attacks.

The first C-130 also came to Robins that decade.

“We began to experience technical growth. The Air Force began to embrace high technology,” said Head.

The 60s

The C-141 was assigned to Robins in 1962 during the Vietnam War. The center maintained and managed the program as well as had a colonel as its program director stationed here.

“It became part of the Southeast Asia pipeline. We were a big part of that and did very important repair work,” said Head.

The 70s

In the 1970s, the C-141 was redesigned from the A model to the B model which included aerial refueling capabilities. The project also came in under budget and was completed in 1980. The planes flew until 2007.

The base also received its first F-15 in 1974. It was a generational change because of Vietnam. It was the evolution of what a fighter plane was going to be,” said Head.

The 80s

With the 1980s came the advent of the personal computer. Head remembered a time when typewriters, white out and retyping whole documents was common. The first computer he used on base was called a Wang and would not save unless the user exited the program.

The 90s til now

“In the 90s, a lot of changes took place,” Head said.

One of those events was the first Gulf War.

“I will never forget it. It was at night and we went down into the basement in Bldg. 300. This base knew we were going to have to support this. We took planes, surged parts, surged people and this base proved its worth in that war,” said Head.

F-15s used in the war had a 109-0 record. People from Robins were overseas fixing the aircraft and not one was ever unable to fly, he said.

Currently, the base is involved in the longest war in U.S. history. Head recalled Maj. Gen. Robert McMahon, former Warner Robins Air Logistics Center commander, now retired, in his office talking about how the war had been going on from the time he was a colonel until he was a two-star general.

From the people who work on the flight line to those in the front office, the Air Force and Robins are keeping the wolves at bay.

“Be proud of what you do because we’re damn good. We’ve been here for 75 years and we’re going to be here for another 75 more,” Head said.