Aviation Electronics Technicians — ATs — maintained and repaired the complex electronic systems aboard carrier-based aircraft, including radar systems, navigation equipment, communications systems, and weapons system electronics. AT billets were assigned to aircraft carrier electronics maintenance shops, to carrier air wing squadrons during deployments, and to naval air station electronics intermediate maintenance departments (EIMDs). ATs working aboard aircraft carriers built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down were present throughout the carrier’s below-deck spaces, in areas with asbestos insulation in structural and mechanical system components.

Electronics Shop Environment and Asbestos

ATs performed their maintenance work in the carrier’s electronics shops and avionics maintenance facilities:

  • Below-deck electronics shops on aircraft carriers built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down had asbestos insulation in overhead systems, structural insulation, and in the mechanical systems serving the electronics spaces — heating, ventilation, and cooling systems for electronics shop temperature control used asbestos-insulated piping in older carrier construction
  • Older electronics equipment with asbestos — aviation electronics equipment from the 1950s and 1960s, maintained by ATs aboard carriers during the 1960s and 1970s, used asbestos-containing thermal insulation and asbestos board in high-power electronics components (magnetrons, high-power amplifiers, and related vacuum tube electronics) where asbestos provided electrical insulation and heat resistance
  • Radar system high-power components — shipboard and aircraft radar systems of the WWII and early Cold War era used asbestos in their high-power transmitter assemblies and waveguide insulation in the higher-temperature sections of radar systems

Aircraft Avionics Bay Work

ATs performed maintenance work inside aircraft avionics bays aboard carriers — accessing the avionics compartments of aircraft parked in the hangar bay or on the flight deck:

  • Hangar deck environment — aircraft avionics maintenance in the carrier’s hangar bay occurred in the ambient environment of the hangar deck, where asbestos-insulated overhead systems and structural asbestos in the carrier’s hangar bay framing contributed to the compartment’s environment
  • Hangar deck overhead systems — the overhead of carrier hangar bays in WWII and 1950s-era carriers contained asbestos spray-on fireproofing on structural steel and asbestos insulation on mechanical systems running through the hangar overhead

Shore-Based EIMD and NAS Electronics Facilities

ATs at naval air station electronics maintenance facilities worked in NAS buildings that used asbestos-containing materials in WWII-era and Cold War-era construction — particularly in older NAS electronics maintenance building mechanical systems and building construction.

VA Claims for AT Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy vessels and at naval installations. Aviation Electronics Technicians who served aboard aircraft carriers built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down or who worked with older asbestos-containing electronics equipment and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.