9,000-JOB FACILITY AT ISSUE OFFICIALS PONDER FUTURE OF PLANT 42.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick and Jim Skeen Staff Writers

PALMDALE - As military, county, aerospace industry and Antelope Valley officials talk about Air Force Plant 42's future, the installation assumes more importance to valley residents.

Aerospace plants at the federally owned site employ some 9,000 workers - the area's biggest center of employment outside Edwards Air Force Base itself.

``Plant 42 is king, and we aren't going to do anything to disturb that status,'' said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, who worked on L-1011 jetliners and B-1A bombers at Plant 42 when he was employed by Lockheed and Rockwell more than 20 years ago.

Officially called Production Flight Test Installation Air Force Plant 42, the 5,832-acre site is one of a handful of Air Force-owned production facilities, a remnant of about 100 that once existed.

Aircraft that have rolled out of its giant assembly buildings range from Lockheed's Mach 2 F-104 fighters in the 1950s to Rockwell space shuttles and Northrop B-2 stealth bombers.

The installation began as an Army Air Corps training base in 1940. It was sold to Los Angeles County after World War II but reacquired by the federal government in 1950 for assembling and testing jet aircraft. The facility drew aircraft companies from the Los Angeles area.

Plant 42 is unique among the surviving government-owned and contractor-operated facilities because it has eight separate production sites sharing a common airfield.

The government owns the facilities, which cover 3.2 million square feet of floor space and which Air Force officials say would cost $1.1 billion to replace. They are operated by contractors like Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin also owns its own facility adjoining Air Force Plant 42, and the former SR Technics Plant, once used by Rockwell to make B-1 bombers, is also just outside the plant boundary.

The Los Angeles city airports department has a small passenger terminal building, known as Palmdale Regional Airport, at the site, but no commercial airlines have used the building since 1998.

Lockheed Martin's Palmdale plant is going strong with U-2, F-117, F-22 and joint strike fighter work. Northrop Grumman officials announced in August that Palmdale would become home to production and modification work for four programs: the stealth bomber, the Global Hawk spy plane, an aerial target drone and joint strike fighter parts assembly.

But Boeing's space shuttle modification work is moving to Florida, costing the Air Force more than $1 million annually in payments from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that were used to cover the plant's operating costs.

Increases in health-benefit and workers' compensation costs for operations and maintenance workers, along with the loss of NASA income, have caused Air Force officials to shut down the airfield to heavy planes four days a week.

Air Force officials also have notified Plant 42 aerospace companies that the airfield could be shut down entirely as early as next July.

Air Force officials have not said the production facilities themselves are in budgetary danger, but much of the work requires flights of stealth bombers, U-2 spy planes, F-117 stealth fighters and other aircraft.

Bill Machingo, integrated product team chief at the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center, said Air Force officials are trying to solve the plant's budget problems.

``We are actively trying to make up that shortfall,'' Machingo said last week.

The shortfall could range from $1 million to $10 million, he said.

``It's a moving target,'' Machingo said. ``A lot of that hinges on the negotiations with the contractor.''

U.S. Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, has secured funding to solve previous budget problems and is confident money can be found in the federal budget to keep the runways open, his staff says.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles officials are looking at a possible takeover of airfield operations since closing them could crush efforts to re-establish airline flights there.

In addition, Palmdale officials are taking steps to establish a commission that, under state law, would give the city some influence on what happens to the installation if federal officials target it for closure.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, left, is eager to keep employment undisturbed on federal land at Plant 42. With him at a ceremony on the site were a Northrop Grumman vice president, Gary Ervin, center, and Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

(2) Private contractor work on B-2 bomber assembly was bustling in 1991 in federally owned Plant 42, long a major employment center in the Antelope Valley.