HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- During the early years of the 1950s, the Ogden Air Materiel Area continued its involvement with propeller-driven aircraft – primarily the B-26 and B-29. This soon changed. By the end of 1953 Hill AFB became accustomed to the whine of jet engines.
The Air Materiel Command assigned the OOAMA maintenance responsibility for the Northrop-developed F-89 Scorpion (which first flew in 1948) in September 1952, but the first large F-89 project began at Hill AFB in January 1953. This project consisted of transfer inspection and technical order modification of 106 F-89A, B, and C model aircraft. The OOAMA’s Maintenance Division completed the last of these 106 F-89s seven months later, by the end of July.
The OOAMA produced these aircraft on schedule by completing three per week in February, six per week in March, seven per week in April, and peaking at nine per week in May before scaling down to seven per week during June and July. This initial F-89 project led straight into several more projects during the latter half of 1953, consisting together of 152 aircraft, which the Maintenance Division completed in early 1954.
The OOAMA received its first F-84 Thunderjet project in August 1952, which would have consisted of reconditioning 100 F-84 aircraft – but after an AMC-caused delay in the start of production, the command cancelled the project. The first F-84 project finally came in August 1953 when AMC assigned the OOAMA a modest project involving 15 aircraft. Shortly after this initial project, AMC assigned OOAMA its first large F-84 project in October 1953 – Inspection and Repair as Necessary and winterization of 110 F-84s.
In October 1952, AMC assigned the OOAMA as the prime manager for the F-101 Voodoo. Due to changes in tactical requirements during its design phase, the F-101 did not fly until September 1954 and the aircraft did not enter production lines at Hill AFB until 1958. As the OOAMA’s Maintenance Division brought the F-101 production lines online those of the F-84 began to close. The OOAMA completed its last F-84 on 26 May 1958, ending a five-year project that encompassed 1,100 aircraft.