The Nuts and Bolts of the C-124

A retired Air Force maintenance technician recalls working on one of these famous aircraft.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 01:23 PM ET

Verified

Steve Childers in front of the landing gear of a C-124. Contributed photo

Key Takeaways:

Stephen Childers joined the U.S. Air Force in October 1961, training as an aircraft mechanic.
He was assigned to the 28th Air Transport Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, working the graveyard shift on C-124 transport planes for four years.
His duties involved critical postflight inspections, during which he discovered significant issues such as a detached engine exhaust stack and persistent fuel leaks.

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Stephen Childers joined the U.S. Air Force in October 1961, just four months after graduating from Del Norte County High School in Crescent City, California, in the far northwestern corner of the Golden State. After basic training and aircraft maintenance tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, Childers was assigned to the 28th Air Transport Squadron at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

“I had to get a map to find out where Utah was,” Childers recalls.