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Show Friday, December HILL TOP TIMES 3, 1982 Page 19 By Lucinda Schuft Public Affairs Office Pilots depend on instrument readings on dials in an airplane's cockpit. The accuracy of these readings is vital to keeping the plane on course and in the air. Bernice "Billie" Smith in the Directorate of Maintenance is a silk screen printer who, for the last 27 years, has been repainting these instrument dials and literally helping to keep the Air Force in the air. IlliipPliiii According to David Jensen, Billie's supervisor and an instrument mechanics foreman in the Airborne Electronics and Missile Division, "Her dials have encompassed the whole spectrum of aircraft maintained by the Ogden Air Logistics Center over the years. Her work is fantastic. Right down to the letter perfect." He expanded on the importance of Billie's role to the pilot: "Everything a pilot sees in the cockpit is silk screened." Billie explained that all dial faces wear out over the years and must be redone. They are coated with a fluorescent paint which makes them visible at night under a special light used in the cockpit. "This paint becomes old and then the dials need redoing," she said. She also redoes dials that are marked for recalibration to correct inaccuracies in their readings. She is given a master and changes all the dials to the same reading. How does she redo an instrument dial? First she strips all the paint off of it and takes it down to the bare metal. Then the metal is coated with a black paint and . , baked. "This hardens the surface so when I'm painting the calibrations or lettering, and make a mistake I can easily wipe it off," Billie explained. The white markings on the dial are either painted with the silk screen method or by hand. "If they (the dials) are engraved they have to be done by hand," she said. "The first paint I apply is the white and then I fluorescent paint over it," she said. put the She explained the process used to ensure the dials are accurate. "A master dial is placed in a fixture Force Photo by Lucinda Schuft) (U.S. to hold it in position and the positive (film) of it is Billie Smith, a silk screen printer in the Directorate of Maintenance, squeegees paint through a silk centered over it to assure a match," she said. "It took me a long time to master the centering screen to make a decal. She has worked on silk.' screening instrument dials and designation decals of the dials. I used to get the person next to me to for27 years. help," she said. "Years and years ago we used to have other people doing the various stages," she it right," she said. "I'm not an artist but I've got Billie said was manufactured years ago for the base silk screen printers. said. my own little ways." The paint is applied through the silk to the sur- The other people in her department are gone now Billie said she uses rub-of- f lettering or even parts and Billie handles the whole process herself. She is from other decals when making her silk screen face with a squeegee Billie pulls across in one short, swift stroke. the only silk screen printer in the Directorate of design. Billie has worked for the government for 32 years Maintenance. She then transfers this design on to job In addition to painting the faces on the instruframes, which too are made by Billie. The stretching and is self taught in this specialty. She calls herworment dials she also paints the pointers which in- of the silk takes two sets of hands so she sometimes interesting and rewarding. When asked if she dicate just what the dial is reading and she also needs an assistant, but other than that she's on her ries about her dials being accurate she said, "I like makes instructional and directional decals used on own. my job so I'm concerned." When she sees the Air Force planes flying She uses a copy camera to burn the image into aircraft, aircraft simulators and panels in her overhead she doesn't feel personally responsible. division. a green film which is then applied to the stretched "Most of the time they send me a picture for the silk for the design. The design on the frame is plac- She simply said, "I may have put a dial on it and machine which I may not." decals and if they aren't right I cut it out and make ed onto a special 1 "dmont .p-.BM- 1-- W - Hf Jk y A, Air silk-cover- hand-operate- ed d IK il l iiiiiiiiiiiiipisi mmmmmmmmmmmm illllPIllIilllllillllillll ilililllM liiiliilllilii: flillili ? ) m mmmmmmmmm 1 llllilliBiji lilllllllil (U S. Air Fore Photo by Lucinda Schuft) Billie demonstrates how the pointers from the dials are painted. She said this pointer is one of the larger ones. Some of the instrument dials use tiny pointers, which aren't as easy to repaint. These are examples of aircraft decals sent to Billie for a hew paint job. The bottom dial is stripped of its paint and is ready for the black coating to be applied. |