Boone Barnes, Major, USAF (ret.), who serves on the Aviation History & Technology Center Board, submitted the following report with photos on the unveiling of a historic market at the Lockheed Martin plant:
On Thursday June 4, representatives of the Air Force and Lockheed-Martin unveiled an historical marker outside the Aviation History & Technology Center, 555 Perrin Road in Marietta, next door to the Lockheed plant, also known as Air Force Plant 6.
The marker was unveiled by Kelly Shields of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Arshima Rieara of LM Facilities Engineering in Marietta.
The unveiling took place in front of a host of Air Force, Lockheed-Martin and Aviation History & Technology Center representatives.
Each side of the marker tells the story of Air Force plant six during WWII and from The Korean War up until the present day.
Text from the Marker
AIR FORCE PLANT 6
1951–PRESENT
In 1951, what was called the Bell Bomber Plant became the home of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation – Georgia Division. Lockheed reopened the plant and refurbished 120 B-29 Superfortress bombers for service in the Korean War.
Lockheed-Georgia Air Force Plant 6 produced 394 B-47 Stratojets, a long-range, turbojet-powered strategic bomber, under license from Boeing (1952-1954). Nearly 3,000 B-47s were upgraded under 16 different modification programs.
Lockheed produced 202 Jetstar executive transports (1961-1980), eight P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft (1992-1995), 195 F-22 Raptor air dominance fighters (1996-2012), 81 C-5A (1968-1975), and 50 C-5B Galaxy strategic transports (1985-1989). The C-5 was once the largest aircraft in the world.
The first aircraft fully designed and built in the plant was the C-141 StarLifter, the world’s first jet-powered strategic airlifter. A total of 285 C-141s were produced (1963-1967).
Today, Lockheed Martin builds the latest model of the C-130 Hercules tactical transport and the C-130J Super Hercules on the site. Continuously upgraded over its career, the C-130 line has been in production since 1954 for the U.S. and 70 countries around the world. The C-130 program is the longest, continuous military aircraft production assembly line in history.
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