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Operation F-4S Camp Atterbury
By John Ohler
Volunteers of PAM
and the restoration department ventured out on a mission that we would
dub ‘ Operation F-4S Camp Atterbury ‘. This started
over a year ago
when we were looking for data and components for our Huey restoration.
After a number of phone calls, and information we received from the
headquarters of the National Guard in Arlington Virginia, we arranged a
trip to Shelbyville, Indiana to speak with members of that unit, where
they were flying Hueys. The information that we were able to receive
was very important to our restoration project. Prior to our departure
from Shelbyville, their unit maintenance center, they informed
us that
they had a number of Huey bodies at the Air to Ground Target Range at
Camp Atterbury, Indiana. We inquired to the ability of visiting that
range and possibly finding spare parts that we needed and could use.
This was arranged and a trip was scheduled. That trip was of great
value for us as we retrieved many part that we have already used and
more slated to be installed.
The Camp Atterbury Range Command Center has a F-4S Phantom II as their front gate century, and it needed some urgent TLC. During our conversations with their personnel, we spoke of our F-4N project and how we restored that aircraft to the Chargers Squadron. Additionally, they were able to view this aircraft on our web site. After visiting out web site and seeing our F-4N restored, they requested we consider helping them restore their F-4S Phantom II. On October 3rd, 2005, five of us left for Camp Atterbury on a mission to restore an aircraft on a military base. The last restoration project away from PAM was in Texas when the DC-3 was recovered and flown back to Bloomington.
Atterbury Range personnel worked on this aircraft prior to our arrival to clean and degrease the surfaces. With the five PAM volunteers that made this trip and Atterbury personnel, we worked as one unit toward the goal of getting this aircraft prepped and painted within the time that we had scheduled. We had scheduled to have this restoration completed by Friday, October 21st. This project went well and by Wednesday, October 19th we were finished and departed for home. During our Atterbury stay, we also had the pleasure of living again in a military barrack, and that took us all back many years when Uncle Sam wanted us. This was a great experience for all the PAM volunteers that were part of the crew, John Ohler, Frank Thompson, Pete Troesch, Tom Kuhn, and Phil Gulotta. We all had a great time even though the hours were long. The outcome was very successful and Atterbury personnel are very pleased that their aircraft now sports a new look.