// Making His Mark
- Forty Years of Service
Mr Alan McCord
While many former and current Air Force personnel can be said to have made an indent on the Service only a few, like Mr Alan McCord, can truly be said to have made an indelible mark by their dedication, doggedness and determination. Mr Ian Young charts the remarkable 40 year work history of a man who has set the benchmark for excellence for over 40 years of service.
In January 1969 young Alan McCord, a seventeen and a half year old ex student of Henderson High School, reported to RNZAF Base Woodbourne as part of No. 26 Airman Cadet School intake. For Alan this was the start of a long, illustrious career with the Air Force, one that has spanned forty years to date. In that time he has won the respect of many and played a key role in some important projects with the Air Force.
Alan began his training as a Ground Communications and New Zealand Certificate of Engineering trainee. Throughout his early years, which included junior and senior trade courses at Wigram, he was employed at 1 Repair Depot Woodbourne, ESF Ohakea and Ground Communications, Whenuapai. In 1974 he was posted to Wellington where he worked as a technician and later as a programmer and instructor on the Defence Automated Message Switching System which, for some obscure reason, was nicknamed ‘Fred’. Over a period of seven years Alan and a small band of wizards kept this ‘Ridiculous Electronic Device’ running smoothly to maintain the heart of the Defence national communications link.
In August 1981 Alan was selected to join an elite team in Seattle working on Project Rigel, the first major upgrade of the RNZAF P3-K Orion navigation and tactical suite. Kathy, his bride of just seven months, still had time to serve with the Army, so he was forced to head, unaccompanied, to Seattle until she could join him later in the year. This appointment marked a radical departure from the traditional Avionics employment for which he had been trained. It also formed an important milestone in his career.
After returning to New Zealand late in November 1983 Alan joined the rest of the Rigel team to help set up the Operational Software Maintenance Unit (OSMU) in support of Orion operations at Whenuapai.
By the late 1980s Alan was the sole remaining member of the software team that had helped develop the Rigel system in Seattle to still be employed at OSMU. Consequently he shouldered much of the responsibility for matters related to Rigel and his specialist knowledge and expertise became a valuable ingredient as the system continued to evolve to accommodate the Air Force’s ever changing requirements.
Alan’s dedication and diligence were formally acknowledged first with the award of a Chief of Air Staff’s Commendation in 1984 then with a BEM in 1988.
Early in 2005 Alan became part of the BECA Applied Technology team formed as subcontractor to L3-Communications to help develop a new Data Management System that would replace the old Data Handling System he helped develop on Project Rigel. As the sole uniformed software developer selected to work on the Orion P3-K2 project he duly took up residence in Rockwall, Texas. Here he started working at the nearby L3-Communications site alongside a team of civilian software experts contracted to develop and maintain the new system.
In February 2008, with the software development completed and the BECA team returning to New Zealand, Alan was seconded to the Mod SUP Resident Project Team where he has supported the operation and maintenance of the P3-K2 Flight Deck Trainer, which will be delivered with the modified P3-K2 in 2009.
Alan is due to return to New Zealand when the P3-K2 project nears completion in 2009. His recently acquired knowledge and expertise will be vital as the new system is bedded in at the newly formed Integration Mission Support Squadron at Whenuapai. At this stage his career with the Air Force looks far from over.