The 20th Field Maintenance Squadron - RAF Upper Heyford, England

The 1970's

Squadron Motto: "STRENGTH THROUGH SUPPORT"
"Here is the 20th FMS Emblem that was approved for FMS when it transfered to Upper Heyford, April 1970."
Submitted by Terry Horstead.

Fuel Systems Mainteneance Sign
"The picture was based on a similar cartoon in T.O 1-1-3 (the Bible for all fuel systems maintenance). It was painted by a shop member and his wife, SSgt Ed Connally and wife Starr. The three of us hung it up after work one evening, I suspect around May of '74. The photo is undated and there are no remarks on the back, so I can't comment any further, except to say, even though the photo is B&W, the "artwork" was definitely in color. I wish I could remember what the bldg number was... I can show you exactly where it stood, it was between the flightline road and what I think we called the nosedocks (there were three of them clustered together)."
Submitted by Bill Hamilton, 20 FMS Fuel Systems Maintenance, Jan 1973 - Jul 1974.

20th Field Mainteneance Squadron
Page 17, submitted by James Burrell, 20th MMS, bomb crew 12, Sep 1975 - Sep 1977.

Maintenance Award: "FMS systems supervisor recognized"

From The Vanguard, August 13, 1976.
Submitted by James Burrell, 20th MMS, bomb crew 12, Sep 1975 - Sep 1977.

"The original Field Maintenance Squadron, was the same thing as the final Equipment Maintenance Squadron, FMS/EMS. These outfits included the Fuel Shop, Egress Shop, Hydralics/Pneudralics Shop, Electric Shop, Phase Inspection Docks, Aircraft Repair and Recovery (AR), AGE, Paint/Corrosion Control Shop, Engine Shop, Welding Shop, Machine Shop and of course the Sheet Metal Shop. These were eventually incorporated into the (CRS) Component Repair Squadron, and finally the EMS. This all happened during my tenure at Upper Heyford, spanning 1977 to 1985. Some of the Chiefs of Maintenance (DCM) that we had went on to become some of the finest senior maintenance officers the Air Force could produce during the time frame of my 23 year career. I wish I could find all of the things that I had from Upper Heyford, as the amount of material we brought back from eight years of living and breathing England was unbelievable. I rode a motorcycle almost full time after getting established in my job. I can remember the worst snowstorm in English weatherkeeping history, and plowing snow with an AT (articulated) fork lift, as all of our snowplows became disabled within the first few hours of the storm starting. I was credited with saving a man from Lincolnshire as he was trying to make it home during the storm, and was calling out on the CB band for a place to stay. There had been a major accident just a few miles further up the road and the visibility, was less than a hundred feet for most of southern England. I talked him carefully to my house in the Bicester Anglo area at 26 Byron Way. He would have been involved in the accident if he hadn't come on in as several people were killed and there were 60+ vehicles involved before the Local Constabulary was able to shut down the road to following traffic. As it happens that storm had also reeked havoc here in the northern US during the winter of 1982 including dumping 18 inches of snow here in central Texas before coming across the Atlantic and making England a winter wonderland. That snowfall was one for the record books and also showed the "Yankee Ingenuity" thing to its best sense of the word, as we were able to keep the roads and taxiways and alert area and runway clear in case we were needed. Most of England was shut down pretty much for the whole week after the storm. Upper Heyford was ready as usual. CMSgt Tom Beby and MSgt. William (Dusty) Rhoads wre intramental in accomplishing the remarkable feat of keeping the base ready. We took otherwise useless snowplow blades and cut holes in them for the forks on the lifts to fit through and then tied them off with chains so that they'd stay attached and hold a left or right hand angle in order to clear roadways and all of the rest of the areas including around the parking shelters, for our aircraft, and the Phase dock hangars, fuel cell hangars. I'll also be able to tell you about the Aircraft Battle Damage Repair and decoy aircraft which we put together. The installation of the most powerful Generator Test stand in Europe at that time. The arrival of the first EF-111A and a host of other things that I became directly involved in one way or the other."
Alan M. Dinwiddie (Al)
SSgt - TSgt (Ret.), 20th FMS, 20th CRS and 20th EMS
Aug 1977 - Aug 1985

This is not a complete representation of the 20th FMS. More information and photos will be posted as they are received from former participating FMS personnel.

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This page was last updated on 23 June 2005.