Christmas comes early for Keesler Child Development Center

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Nicholas Monteleone
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  The dream of flying often starts during childhood. Sometimes it's an experience at an Air Show or just staring out the window watching contrails crisscross the sky that sparks passion and wonder. Sometimes, it's a toy. With a touch of imagination, the wind can be blowing through your hair and the thrill of the sky yours.

The children at the Child Development Center here were given that opportunity again when Air Force Reserve Master Sgt. Tomme Lassabe, a first sergeant with the 41st Aerial Port Squadron and the 81st Training Support Squadron training technology flight chief, and his team refurbished four pedal airplanes that had been in storage for years. 

When Staff Sgt. Valerie Divert, curriculum developer at the 81st TRSS, took the reins at the Parent Advisory Board for the CDC, she learned about several pedal airplanes that had to been put into storage due to excessive rust. Divert said children were playing with them at the end of the day, but they were in too bad of shape and were no longer safe for them to be on.

They were a rusty mess when Divert called to see if they could be restored, said Lassabe. That's when he got the First Sergeants Council involved to see what they could do.

Over the course of a year, when their free time permitted, Lassabe's team, who serve in a shop with all of the necessary tools for the job, worked to bring new life to the planes Divert said.

"We took them apart completely. The wings, the wheels, the props, everything came off," Lassabe said. The team also replaced the seats, which were completely rusted, and painted over the chrome areas that were too expensive to replace.

After painting and developing new vinyl decals for the four planes, the markings on each plane represented a different branch of service, he said. Lassabe said he actually served in the Marine Corp Fighter Squadron, the VMF 214 "Black Sheep", which one of the planes represents. "That one really hit home for me," he said. That was the actual aircraft they flew and all of the markings are the actual markings those planes would have had during that era, he said.

"Every day when I pick up my kids, they're in the planes pretending to fly in them," said Divert. Most of the children there ask their parents if they can sit in them before they leave, she said. "They're a big hit."

"If they need to be refurbed down the line, we're here for the long term," said Lassabe. "With groups like the First Sergeants Council or the HRDC (Human Resources Development Council), we could take a plane and fix it if it comes back to that."