Two Columbia veterans have been working on a large project for the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, using their experience with aircraft to help in the reconstruction of an F-18.

Annette and Stephen Hammett are both U.S. Air Force veterans with past experience in this sort of reconstruction project.

They previously helped in the reconstruction of an F-18 Blue Angel on display at the St. Louis Science Center.

As Annette described it, the previous owner of the deconstructed plane was set to get rid of it, but someone with the museum was able to get hold of the plane as an exhibit for display.

“They were gonna throw it away, and one of the engineers that works out with the transportation museum, they agreed to accept it,” Annette said. “They brought it in boxes, and we’ve been putting it together.”

The museum’s website currently has a campaign to help fund the restoration and exhibition of the plane which it refers to as a F/A-18 E1, “the first Super Hornet ever produced” from 1995.

As the website further describes, the plane was produced as a U.S. Navy carrier-based fighter jet, constructed in St. Louis by Boeing.

Annette, however, referred to the plane she, her husband and others have been working on as an F/A-18C, which she said was primarily meant for testing, with each component wired in order to gauge its abilities.

She further offered a brief overview of the reconstruction process, with participants hanging the inner and outer wings and placing flaps, ailerons and ejection seat in the canopy.

“Some parts we’re still missing,” Annette said. “We’re waiting. As soon as they get them in, then we’ll go put them on.”

Annette also touched on her and Stephen’s experience in maintenance for planes, both of them having been retired from Boeing.

As she described, they served as aircraft mechanics crew chiefs, acting as jacks of all trades for the aircraft to which they were assigned.

“Where I worked, we put all these parts on, and then where my husband worked, they flew the airplanes,” Annette said. “Between all of our knowledge and racking our brains… We’ve been retired 10 years, and we all figured it out.”

While the reconstruction work itself has a satisfaction to it, Annette noted that perhaps the biggest benefit for her and Stephen has been working together again with a number of their former Boeing peers. 

She said about 30-35 folks in total have been working on the project.

Annette also expressed satisfaction over the fact the group of older retirees have been able to get through most of the project without any serious damage.

“Just being with people was the main thing,” Annette said. “That we didn’t hurt anything was the second thing. We got it on and nobody got hurt.”

As for her and Stephen’s larger motivations to be part of the museum display, Annette recalled how she originally wasn’t interested in helping with the Blue Angel reconstruction previously, but was ultimately pushed toward it as she recognized her grandchildren would be able to see and enjoy it.

Part of that desire for history preservation is also there for the current project, though she also mentioned the joy of her and her peers being able to put their own touches on the exhibit.

“This is the first C model ever built. That’s why they wanted to save it,” Annette said. “And my grandkids will go out to see it, too. They were out the day we were putting it together.”

For more information on the F-18 and the National Museum of Transportation, visit tnmot.org.