Matt arrived at Andrews in November 1979.He was assigned to the 89th Organizational Maintenance Squadron working on one of the Special Air Mission C-135B Aircraft #62-4130. Matt's first week in the squadron he was tasked with "Hangar Banger". This detail involved cleaning up the aircraft hangars, performing maintenance etc. Matt got to paint aircraft chocks yellow and then sprinkle them with glass beads so they were reflective at night. While performing this "national security" duty, he found out that he had been selected for promotion to E-5, Staff Sergeant. Guess is was all the yellow paint and glass beads that put him over the top!
Matt made several trips while assigned to 4130. One of them was to the Middle East where he visited Petra, the city carved in the rock in Jordan, and then to Egypt where he visited the Pyramids.
The Treasury in the City of Petra, Jordan
The Sphinx and the Pyramids
After working on the C-135B aircraft, Matt was moved up to the C-137's. He was assigned to 58-6970. This aircraft was the first jet powered Air Force One. The pictures below show Matt in front of his aircraft and then when its on display at it's permanent home at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.after being retired from active duty. Here's what they have to say about Matt's old aircraft.
Air Force One—The Flying Oval Office
The first presidential jet plane, a specially built Boeing 707-120, is known
as SAM (Special Air Missions) 970. This aircraft, as well as any other Air Force
aircraft, carried the call sign "Air Force One" when the president
was aboard. Delivered in 1959 to replace Eisenhower's Super-Constellation, the
high-speed jet transport is a flying Oval Office with a modified interior and
sophisticated communication equipment.
Jet technology gave a president the opportunity to meet face-to-face with world
leaders easily. SAM 970 has carried presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson,
and Nixon, as well as VIPs such as Nikita Khrushchev and Henry Kissinger. By
1962, SAM 970 was replaced by a newer Boeing VC-137C. But SAM 970 remained in
the presidential fleet ferrying VIPs and the vice-president until June of 1996.
Matt served on 6970 for awhile and then was transferred to 58-6972 where he met Steve Kerr. Steve and Matt became best friends and their friendship continues to this day. After working for Steve on 6972, Matt finally got the chance to be the "Crew Chief" on his old aircraft. 6970 was normally used by the Vice President for longer trips that the C-9 couldn't do. Matt was a flight mechanic as well as the primary crew chief on this aircraft for over 2 years. He normally spent about 2 weeks a month on the road since George Bush was a very active Vice President. On one trip to the far east that lasted 19 days, Matt had drawn a Snoopy cartoon that was posted in the crew compartment. Mr. Bush saw the cartoon, asked who did it, and then signed it for Matt. Then the people in the Vice Presidents party made copies of the cartoon and asked Matt to sign it for them. Matt cherished the autographed original signed by George Bush and placed it inside a paper towel sleeve so it wouldn't get damaged. Unfortunately, it was later mistaken for trash when he got home and was thrown away. (not by Matt!) Matt had some business cards printed up to use while on the road.
During Matt's time on 6970, he traveled to many places. Matt has been all over the world and the list of places would be very long. He took alot of pictures but the only ones he really saved were from China. The pictures below are from his first trip. He went to the Summer Palace and The Great Wall.
Matt took this picture from the entry doorway as the Vice President and Mrs. Bush were walking to Marine 2 after one of the many trips. The Bush's were always very friendly to the crew members and were great people to know. Matt will never forget them!
After flying around the world with Vice President Bush for 2 years, Matt accepted a job as the Squadron Safety and Budget NCO. This was a nice office job working for the Squadron Commander, Lt Col Robert F. Guy, a very unique individual. The last time Matt saw him, he was Col. Guy and he was doing the Special Ops thing. As a squadron commander, he was the about the best Matt ever had! During his stint as the Safety/Budget NCO, Matt also got to build offices for the Tech Reps, coordinate the squadrons part in the annual Air Show, and get involved in all kinds of other stuff that gave him more experience and a well rounded point of view of the maintenance operation.
The words on the bottom of the picture above say:
To Matthew Caswell with appreciation for your great service aboard AF II. Good Luck!
Matt was on the Presidential Maintenance backup list and was selected for Presidential Maintenance duties in 1986. He was assigned to the backup aircraft 62-6000 where he once again was working for Steve Kerr.
Matt was only in Presidential for about 11 months. Matt had been at Andrews AFB for 7 1/2 years and wanted to move on. Presidential was a great experience but it was also alot of polishing and cleaning. Matt decided that he wasn't really cut out to spend the rest of his career in Presidential Maintenance so he asked to be released and took a job in Maintenance Control as a Senior Controller. The personnel that maintain the Presidential aircraft are the best in the in world and deserve all the respect and admiration that they are given!
Some of the people that Matt will never forget from Andrews include: Robert F. Guy, CMSgt Tate, Shelly Hunihan, Susan Berholka, CMSgt Don Axe, CMSgt Abe Amerhein, Lewis Dickerson, Phylis Wand, Willie Falcon and everyone in Presidential who put up with him!
Matt had some contacts at SAC Headquarters and he wanted to return to his roots on KC-135 aircraft. Working some phone calls, he was given orders to his next duty assignment, Beale AFB, California.
