Page 18 - Aerotech News and Review, Feb. 3 2017

Close ties to Desert High leads to nose art on B-1B
by Kenji Thuloweit
Edwards AFB, Calif.
Desert Junior-Senior High School’s Class of 2017 received an early gradu- ation gift as they were presented with a professionally painted DHS Scorpions logo on the side of a B-1B Lancer Jan. 19, 2017.
About 90 seniors came to Hangar 1210 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to see the finished project and pose for class photos with the bomber.
The event came about as the 419th Flight Test Squadron and 912th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron have close ties with DHS.
“Many people within the squad- rons have children that attend Desert High and most are involved in various sports,” said Master Sgt. David Peralta, 912th AMU superintendent. “We often coordinate our unit members to volun- teer at school sporting events, organize aircraft tours for students, and those stu- dents volunteer at our unit functions.”
Peralta said Fred Kondrotas, 412th Maintenance Squadron logistician, has been maintaining bombers at Edwards since 1976 and has been a large part of the mutual support of the school and the
412th MXG over the years.
“This was all his idea. He collabo-
rated with Col. Todd Copeland (Air Force Test Center vice commander) and his wife, Debbie, who is a learning director at the school, to advance Mr. Kondrotas’s idea of adding the Desert High logo to one of our aircraft. The B-1 was an easy choice, as it is the clear favorite of the students when they tour our bombers,” said Peralta.
Kondrotas, along with Jason Ever- etts, 412th Aircraft Maintenance Squad- ron, authored the required paperwork and routed it up to 412th Test Wing leadership where it was approved.
“A friend of Fred Kondrotas con- tacted me and asked if I’d be interested in painting nose art on another B-1B at Edwards,” said Mike Machat, a re- nowned aviation artist who has dozens of works displayed on Edwards alone. “When it was explained to me that this aircraft was to be painted to honor the Desert High School at Edwards, I jumped at the chance.”
Machat said he also painted B-1B, tail #049 in 1996. He served in the Air Force from 1967-1970 and started
See NOSE ART, Page 19
Air Force photograph by Kenji Thuloweit
Mike Machat, aviation artist (center), poses for a photo with Desert Junior-Senior High School seniors Jan. 19, 2017, in Hangar 1210. The school’s Class of 2017 was invited out to see the nose art painted on a B-1B Lancer in honor of the base high school. Students took class and yearbook photos in front of the bomber.
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