The 97th Maintenance Squadron consists of 7 flights, providing on- and off-equipment maintenance for assigned C-17, KC-135 and KC-46 aircraft and components. Flights include Accessories, Aerospace Ground Equipment, Avionics, Fabrication, Maintenance, Munitions, and Test, Measurement, and Diagnostic Equipment. These flights work together to provide safe, reliable aircraft and components to ensure success of the wing’s formal aircrew training mission.
The 97th Maintenance Squadron at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., has its history in the Military Airlift Command and Strategic Air Command. The flights in this unit were aligned under the maintenance squadron which answered to the deputy commander for maintenance. On Oct.1, 1992, the 443rd Military Airlift Wing and 340th Air Refueling Wing were inactivated and replaced by the 97th Air Mobility Wing under the Air Mobility Command. On July 1, 1993, the 97th Air Mobility Wing was realigned under the Air Education and Training Command.
On July 1, 1996, the C-141 Starlifter, C-5 Galaxy and KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft maintenance, under the 97th Logistics Group began its transition to a civil service organization. At that time the maintenance squadron was divided into two flights, the accessories flight and the fabrication flight. Upon fully assuming all duties of the fuel systems, Dash 21/configurations, survival, avionics and precision measurement and equipment laboratory elements, the accessories flight stood up; along with the fabrication flight which incorporated manufacturing, nondestructive inspection, and aerospace ground equipment, the two flights aligned under the 97th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance as a civil service unit. Then on Aug. 1, 2002, the pneudraulics element of the equipment maintenance flight joined the component repair flight, bringing a total of six elements to the unit.
On Aug. 30, 2002, during a combined inactivation and activation ceremony, the 97th Logistics Group was inactivated and the 97th Maintenance Directorate was activated. During that same ceremony, the accessories and fabrication flights were redesignated as the 97th Component Repair, and 97th Equipment Maintenance Divisions; two of five divisions under the 97th Maintenance Directorate. In Oct. 1, 2005, the Director of Maintenance developed a lean concept by consolidating the component repair and equipment maintenance divisions to form the 97th Maintenance Division. In August of 2008 the Air Force moved the survival equipment maintenance responsibility out of the Maintenance Division.
On January 1, 2011 the Director of Maintenance reassigned the Inspections Flight into the Maintenance Division. The Maintenance Division's outstanding score of 95.9% (highest in the wing) led the way for the 97th Air Mobility Wing to receive the first ever excellent Air Education and Training Command Logistics Compliance Assessment Team rating. The Maintenance Division Chief is John R. Veirs. He oversees 260 personnel assigned to the following flights: Aerospace Ground Equipment, Avionics Configurations, Fuels, ISO, NDI, PMEL, Pneudraulics, & Manufacturing.
The 97th MXM changed its name from the 97th Maintenance Division on Nov. 1, 2017.