Starlifters retire from active-duty service

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark Diamond
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFPN) --  The last two active-duty C-141B Starlifter transport aircraft will retire Sept. 16 at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J.

During the past 40 years, the C-141 has proven versatile for troop and cargo transport, humanitarian- and disaster-relief operations and aeromedical evacuation. As such, the Starlifter has secured an important place in history ranging from the Vietnam War through the ongoing war on terrorism.

Lockheed-Georgia, which is now Lockheed Martin, delivered the first C-141 Starlifter to Tinker AFB, Okla., in October 1964. At that time, the aircraft was assigned to Military Airlift Command, the predecessor of today’s Air Mobility Command.

“It’s important to remember that although the aircraft is retiring from active-duty service, the Air Force Reserve Command will continue to fly the remaining 20 Starlifters until those aircraft are retired by the end of 2006,” said Gen. John W. Handy, commander of AMC and U.S. Transportation Command.

AMC officials began transferring C-141s to Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard forces in July 1986. C-141s will now only be on duty with Reserve units at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and March Air Reserve Base, Calif.

“I am saddened by the departure of the C-141, but the aircraft has done a marvelous job in the hands of our great Airmen, and it’s time for it to retire,” said the general.

It is the sum total of the contributions of all the aircrews, maintainers and other support people combined with the capabilities of the aircraft, that made the C-141 so remarkable, General Handy said.

In fact, since the C-141 joined the Air Force inventory nearly 40 years ago, the aircraft has logged about 9 million miles and recorded a number of “firsts.”

The C-141 was the first jet aircraft to serve as a jump platform for Army paratroopers. It was the first jet aircraft to land in Antarctica. It set a record in 1981, flying nonstop from New Jersey to Saudi Arabia, carrying 67,000 pounds of cargo and refueling in flight three times.

Of the millions of miles logged by C-141s, many were flown by crews assigned to McGuire AFB. At peak strength, 60 Starlifters were assigned at McGuire of the 284 C-141s in the Air Force inventory.

McGuire AFB has played a pivotal role in the history of the C-141, from initial air-evacuation duties in Vietnam, through its support of the Israel and Middle East peace accords, to humanitarian crises of the 1980s, and conflicts in Grenada, Somalia, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

For more than 30 years, the C-141 was the backbone of American military airlift, said Lt. Col. Eric Wydra, 6th Airlift Squadron commander at McGuire.

“It would be safe to say that airlift ‘grew-up’ in the C-141,” said the colonel.

He also said that it was through the lessons learned and the capabilities demonstrated in the C-141 that AMC officials were able to take the next step in global mobility airlift -- the U.S. Air Force’s newest airlifter, the C-17 Globemaster III.

McGuire’s first C-141 arrived at the base Aug. 8, 1967. Because it was the first C-141 assigned to New Jersey, the aircraft was christened the “Garden State Starlifter.”

When the Air Force officially retires the last active-duty Starlifter on Sept. 16, the “Garden State Starlifter” will become McGuire’s sole remaining C-141. After more than 30 years of service, the aircraft will be placed on static display as a reminder of the Starlifter’s distinguished service to America. (Airman 1st Class Dilia DeGrego contributed to this story. Courtesy of AMC News Service)