Building 2050; the present

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Mackenzie Richardson
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Fairchild Air Force Base's building 2050 is an icon. Fairchild's mission, "Global Reach for America" is unmistakably cast across the top so there's no doubt what happens here. The 12-acre, $65 million structure is the first thing people see when approaching the base from the west.

Home to the 92nd and 141st Maintenance Squadrons and the administrative staff for the 92nd and 141st Maintenance Groups, building 2050 is a hub of activity. Approximately 500 people of various Air Force Specialty Codes commute to building 2050 around-the-clock to make their mark on the Fairchild global reach mission.

Over the last 22 years, since the final B-52 Stratofortress took flight from Fairchild, building 2050 has evolved and improved in new and innovative ways to ensure the people, equipment and assets of the air refueling mission are cared for.

"Since the early days of the Spokane Depot, building 2050 has stood as the linchpin to Fairchild's successful mission," said John Dupler, 92nd MXG programs and resources flight chief. "Generations of aircraft maintenance personnel have poured their blood, sweat and tears into their hard work and dedication to the various aircraft that have rolled through these hangar bays."

Fairchild's primary mission centers around the capabilities of Fairchild's $1.4 billion inventory of KC-135 Stratotankers. The KC-135 provides the core aerial refueling capability for the Air Force and its global reach mission. Air Mobility Command manages an inventory of 414 KC-135s; Fairchild being a proud home to more than 30 of them.

Building 2050 is made up of four heavy aircraft maintenance bays which allow full entry of the KC-135 with complete protection from outdoor elements. The work area of each hangar is approximately 50,000 square feet and accounts for approximately 10.98 acres of the entire structure. The east and west annexes are home to the 92nd and 141st MXS administration and the 92nd and 141st MXG administration and account for roughly 33,000 square feet.

Though building 2050's purpose is for heavy aircraft maintenance bays, the space also allows for various back shop capabilities. Added in the mid-1980s, the back shops occupy the low bay area in the middle of the 12-acre structure. Currently, building 2050 is home to approximately 10 back shop units.

Over the last 15 years, building 2050 has received numerous upgrades making the building safer, environment friendly and more cost effective. The upgrades included replacing the outdated forced air boiler system with more energy-efficient infrared tube heating, installing environmentally-safe fluorescent light fixtures in each hangar, painting the hangar floors with epoxy white paint allowing ample light to reach the underside of the aircraft, $150,000 worth of quality weather stripping for the hangar doors and a high expansion foam fire suppression system which allows for a quicker and safer way to distinguish a fire-related threat.

The upgrades completed at building 2050 so far are only the beginning of making building 2050 a safer work environment for the Airmen, the aircraft and the support equipment.

"Without building 2050, the mission would not have achieved the success it has today," Dupler concluded. "I walk through the facility and it echoes with the generations of maintenance professionals who called it home. For the maintainers who work here now, I know they feel the same."