Students from Middle Georgia Technical College are helping the Robins Air Force Base Museum of Aviation restore its “Blue Canoe,” a small twin-engine plane that the U.S. Air Force commissioned over 48 years ago.  With the Canoe, the Aircraft Maintenance Technology repair students are getting hands-on experience for a future job.  

The group is taking the Canoe apart to be transported to the MGTC, where it will be used in classes on aircraft repair.  The task requires a lot of hard wrench work, due to exterior rust on the plane from sitting outside in the elements since the early 1960s!  In 1986, after 25 years of active service, the Canoe came to the Museum of Aviation, then sat outside at the mercy of the elements for another 23 years! 
 
“It’s probably going to take a year or more,” said Robert Gerard, who is supervising the students’ work on the plane.  “We’ll use it in several of our classes while restoring it, to learn about airframe structural repair and engine overhaul.”  As part of their curriculum, the students will detail the engines, redo the landing gear and props, change some of the glass, and give it a new paint job. 

This project continues a partnership that has been going on for years.  The school has helped the Museum in the past, by restoring engines and recently, renewing the landing gear on an old F-106 fighter.