Tyndall AirForce Base Topping Out
GMF is constructing the largest project in the Pentagon’s history at the Tyndall Air Force Base, and we have just topped off the first hangar!
This hangar in Zone 1 will house six F-35 Fighter Jets, and the entire base will host over 75 jets that keep our country safe. Building a military base is an honor, and we are thankful for our partners at Hensel Phelps and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (WMBB) — The skyline over the Tyndall Air Force Base’s runway is starting to look like its old self.
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE OFFICIALS CELEBRATE MILESTONE REBUILD OF ITS NEW BASE | MYPANHANDLE.COM
Workers topped off the flight line’s first new hangar Wednesday as hundreds looked on.
Crews raised the last beam completing the first hangar of the rebuild.
Thousands of men and women signed the beam to commemorate their women and the project’s competition.
Most of the base, including all the hangars, were destroyed during Hurricane Michael.
“Tyndall Air Force Base, again, was in a very dark time post-Hurricane Michael,” Hensel Phelps Construction Company Project Manager Derek Kelly said. “This community was devastated by the hurricane and it kind of gave the Air Force a clean slate to go build this base of the future.”
Construction on the new hangar began in the summer of 2022.
“We’ve gone through various phases of the demo to remove the existing Air Force facilities that are at were initially here, damaged by Hurricane Michael,” Kelly said.
Building this hanger was no small task.
“It’s countless man-hours go into this from the pre-planning stages all the way through construction,” Hensel Phelps Construction Company Project Superintendent Stephen Devine said.
It’s part of the flight line’s zone one, a $600 million project comprised of 11 facilities, including three new hangers.
“Our operators and our maintainers will be working out of the building,” 325th Fighter Wing Commander, Colonel George Watkins said. “And so that means they’ll be tearing jets apart putting them back together, working on them, replacing components and all that kind of stuff on the aircraft in the hangar.”
In addition to acting as flight line support, the facility will also be used to train pilots.
“After we fly out in the airspace, we come back and we have to debrief,” Colonel Watkins said. “And that’s where the real learning happens. And so we’ll have secure areas inside the building for getting prepared for our missions, doing the classified discussions on our tactics, and then debriefing the pilots on how well they did on that mission and trying to get better each time.”
Despite Wednesday’s celebration, this hangar is a long way from being finished.
There is still more than a year’s worth of work to do before the facility is completed.
Officials said they hope to have the hangar ready by June 2025.
