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Building a legacy: Capt. Tyler Voss

Published April 24, 2014
By Senior Airman Mary O'Dell
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- The memory of a fallen Airman will live on with the help of the friendship, dedication and loyalty of one Fairchild Air Force Base staff sergeant.

Capt. Tyler Voss of the 93rd Air Refueling Squadron was one of three Airmen who perished in an aircraft accident nearly one year ago, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Perroux, a 373rd detachment aircraft maintenance instructor, is ensuring his legacy will live on within the airframe of an "experimental plane."

After meeting through an everyday class taught by Perroux, Voss reached out to the electrical environmental specialist for help with his project, rebuilding an RV-8 aircraft.

"He asked me to help him re-do the wiring and update the panel and instrument systems," Perroux explained. "I immediately agreed as long as we had a solid plan of attack."

In January, 2013, Perroux was officially recruited to help Tyler with his re-build, something he was known to be very passionate about.

After several weeks of re-wiring the panel, Voss and Perroux were able to start it up and witness their project coming to life together. Soon after, Voss deployed to the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan.

Voss coordinated through e-mail with Perroux while serving his country overseas; ensuring parts were received as Perroux continued working from home.

Perroux never expected their time working together to come to an end so quickly.

"I was at work when the news came through that an aircraft had gone down," Perroux reflected. "That bad feeling in my gut took over."

When the names were finally released, Perroux was busy working on the plane, as he did most weekends.

"I placed a flag over the wing and wrote up a small piece about Tyler," Perroux said. "When I met his parents a week or so later, I offered to finish the project and close that chapter for Tyler."

The plan is for the plane to be flown down to Voss' hometown of Boerne, Texas, once the project is complete.

At the point of the accident, the plane was mostly gutted, as Voss and some friends had been working on the interior of the plane. Perroux continued working on the wiring and panel from home.

Some of the work Perroux has done includes power distribution, engine information systems, lighting systems, rebuilding the canopy and re-integrating the panel and wiring from nose to tail and from wing to wing.

While friends of Tyler's helped out with some expenses, about 90 percent of the costs have come straight from Perroux's pocket.

"I'm working on the plane every week, at least once a week," Perroux said. "I've even taken leave to work on it for weeks at a time. I'm to the point that I mostly know where everything goes and how it fits, I just need to put everything into place."

In several short weeks the plane will be ready to fly, with just a few items left to replace, and hopefully make an appearance during Skyfest 2014 at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

"Tyler's family lost their son, but I was more than happy to give them back a piece of Tyler to keep with them always," Perroux lamented. "If he wasn't flying a tanker, he was working on his plane. Being able to finish this for him means more to me than anyone will ever know."