Airmen who maintain B-52 Stratofortress bombers won the Air Force’s top innovation prize after designing a simple adapter that makes one of their most dangerous maintenance jobs faster and safer.
The team from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana took first place at Air Force Spark Tank, the service’s championship round for innovators, for a work platform that cuts pylon-loading time from four hours to about 30 minutes while reducing the risk of injury and aircraft damage.
“We just had to create an adapter … to basically fix it to the lift truck, so it would interface between the pylon and the lift truck,”
“The ALE 25 Pylon Loading Adapter was born out of real-world challenges faced by maintainers,” the research lab release said. “By cutting task times from four hours to just 30 minutes and eliminating risky manual lifts, it’s transforming safety and efficiency for B-52H Stratofortress operations.”
Another finalist, Tech. Sgt. Tylar Cravens, a C-130J Super Hercules engine mechanic at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, represented his team at the competition. His project, Star Forge, uses advanced 3D printing to produce full-scale composite engine models, allowing maintainers to train without removing aircraft from service.
Star Forge reduced training equipment costs dramatically — in one case from $89,000 to $1 — and is expected to improve training for about 2,300 aircraft maintainers, according to the research lab.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2026-01-05/air-force-spark-tank-b52-repair-20303218.html
“We just had to create an adapter … to basically fix it to the lift truck, so it would interface between the pylon and the lift truck,”
“The ALE 25 Pylon Loading Adapter was born out of real-world challenges faced by maintainers,” the research lab release said. “By cutting task times from four hours to just 30 minutes and eliminating risky manual lifts, it’s transforming safety and efficiency for B-52H Stratofortress operations.”
Another finalist, Tech. Sgt. Tylar Cravens, a C-130J Super Hercules engine mechanic at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, represented his team at the competition. His project, Star Forge, uses advanced 3D printing to produce full-scale composite engine models, allowing maintainers to train without removing aircraft from service.
Star Forge reduced training equipment costs dramatically — in one case from $89,000 to $1 — and is expected to improve training for about 2,300 aircraft maintainers, according to the research lab.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2026-01-05/air-force-spark-tank-b52-repair-20303218.html
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