Wing retires C-130E, anticipates end of C-130E ops

  • Published
  • By Capt. Joe Knable
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Little Rock Air Force Base C-130E Hercules aircraft 62-1788 made its final flight Nov. 29, to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base's 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the aircraft retirement "bone yard" here.

Built in 1962, the aircraft's history includes supporting major operations in Vietnam from 1967-1973, such as the Tet Offensive.

The aircraft commander, 314th Airlift Wing Commander Col. Mark Czelusta, wanted to be part of this flight.
"At the surface, it looks like any other cross-(contiguous-U.S.) mission," he said. "But to a career C-130 pilot like me, I can't help but feel nostalgic, and honored, to fly a plane on its last flight."

"(This aircraft) is just as much an Airman as I am," remarked Tech. Sgt. Ken Williams, a 62nd Airlift Squadron instructor flight engineer, for the aircraft's final flight.
Several other crewmembers echoed similar sentiments.

In all, this C-130E flew 31,565.5 hours, said Capt. Greg Steenberge, the 314th Airlift Wing assistant executive officer and the aircraft's final copilot.

The aircraft was scheduled to fly until three to five days before the crew departed for Arizona, said Col. Adam Dickerson, the 314th Maintenance Group commander, a maintenance officer who has worked with the C-130 for 14 years.
"I'm coming to the end of my career, and these Herks are coming to the end of their careers, so it means a lot."

The colonel recalled how 19th Airlift Wing Commander Col. Mike Minihan, who recently trained with the 314th AW after assuming command of the base, asked if the maintainers did anything special for him, because the scores-old planes looked and performed so well.
Colonel Minihan's planes received the same treatment that a first lieutenant initial qualification course student received, Colonel Dickerson explained.

"The maintainers have really done an outstanding job of keeping the Es in excellent condition," said Maj. Justin Barry, the 314th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander.

"It's a point of pride with the E model guys ... It's a pilot's aircraft. It's a maintenance guy's aircraft," Colonel Dickerson said in response to a reporter's question.

"It's supreme in the tactical-airlift mission it was created for," said Major Barry.

After service around the world, aircraft 62-1788 joined several thousand other Department of Defense aircraft in the dusty Arizona bone yard including models from a 1952 EB-57 Canberra to B-1B Lancers and others still flown today.

As he drove through row after row of the more than 4,000 aircraft at AMARG, Colonel Czelusta pointed out specific C-130E models he flew during various assignments. He has flown C-130s his entire career.

After retiring aircraft 62-1788, there are 15 C-130Es left in the 314th AW's fleet. Aircraft 62-1788 was retired as part of an Air Force effort to modernize its C-130 fleet with C-130J and C-130H AMP aircraft to meet the needs of today's warfighters in a more efficient, cost-effective way.

The final aircraft to be retired, the 314th AW flagship, aircraft 62-1855, is scheduled to be retired at AMARG in September, 2011 for the second time, Major Barry said.

The aircraft was retired once before at AMARG, in December 2002, and remained there until January, 2005. In February, 2005, the aircraft was brought back to active service and assigned to the 62nd AS, Mr. Rumley said.

Colonel Czelusta plans to be part of the crew that flies the flagship to its retirement, he said.

"The greater story is the upcoming retirement of the entire E-model fleet by the end of (fiscal 2011.)" Colonel Czelusta explained. "These E-models have served us so very well. Prior to our beginning specialized training in the J-model, every C-130 crewmember in the active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command began their mission-qualifying training in the E-model. Their first experiences were shaped by the 314th AW and its sturdy fleet of E-models. "

The C-130E's service history is extensive, the colonel explained.

"The E-model fleet served our nation so very well throughout the Cold War, in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Somalia, Haiti (1994), Bosnia, and during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom," he said. "They were there for scores of humanitarian, counterdrug, and diplomatic missions as well. Our servicemen and women typically enter and exit combat zones in the C-130. And many of our fallen heroes began their final journey home in an E-model."

Colonel Czelusta also mentioned Joint Task Force Full Accounting, which was established in 1992 to search for the Americans who served in Vietnam and remain unaccounted for, "leveraged the flexibility of the C-130 fleet as it brought our repatriated heroes home, as well."

The end of U.S. C-130E operations, however, is near.

"It's hard to believe that by September, the (Air Force) will no longer fly these venerable planes," Colonel Czelusta said. "With more than 35,000 hours on each airframe, each tail number developed its own personality over the years. The newer C-130Hs and the most advanced C-130Js are doing phenomenally well, and they will certainly develop their own personalities over time; many already have, but the E-model fleet is special. They are like family members to the men and women who maintain and fly them."