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This summer, the 86th Airlift Wing will retire five more of its C-130E aircraft. The aircraft, among the oldest in the Air Force inventory, entered service in 1964 and 1965.
They served throughout the globe, from long-forgotten bases such as Stewart Air Force Base, Tenn., and Clark Air Base, Philippines, to modern hubs of our Air Force like Pope, Dyess and Charleston Air Force Bases. One of the aircraft, 63-7865, has a particularly powerful past. As highlighted in previous KA articles, 63-7865 earned an honorary Purple Heart for damage sustained serving in Vietnam.
***image1***A plaque on the flight deck of the aircraft relays the events behind the award of the Purple Heart — On June 1, 1972, this aircraft, then assigned to the 21st TAS, 374th TAW, based at Ching Chuan Kang Airbase, Taiwan, took a mortar round through #3 engine while parked on the tarmac at Kontum Air Base, Republic of Vietnam.
A maintenance recovery team and aircrew deployed to its location for rescue. After the #3 engine was changed, the new engine failed to start, forcing a three-engine takeoff under heavy mortar attack. Upon taxi out and takeoff roll, the aircraft was hit with several mortar rounds puncturing the wings and inflicting heavy damage to the other engines.
After the subsequent takeoff and climb-out, the aircraft would climb to only 1,000 feet, making it vulnerable to ground fire. With heavy damage, the aircraft made an emergency landing at Plieku Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, where it was determined to require two new wings and four new engines.
Recovered from this damage, the aircraft continued its service to the Air Force in the Pacific theater. From 1989 to 1992, while 63-7865 was assigned to the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan, her dedicated crew chief was Airman 1st Class Jim Hill, now Master Sgt. Hill, 86th Maintenance Squadron production supervisor. During their time together, they deployed to Oman and Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Storm and contributed to the unit’s 97 percent
mission reliability on more than 600 sorties.
Seizing a unique opportunity, Sergeant Hill will rekindle memories with his
aircraft and accompany her on her final mission from Ramstein to Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., to join the more than 4,200 aircraft stored in the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. Stored at the AMARG, aircraft 63-7865 and four other Ramstein C-130Es will add to the pool from which military units throughout the world may withdraw parts and aircraft.
Sergeant Hill’s attachment to the aircraft is obvious. “I have spent a lot of time on this aircraft … to this day, if you pull back the belly skin between the troop doors, you can see some of the work that I performed on the ribs of this aircraft,” said Sergeant Hill. “It is an honor and privilege for me to serve as the crew chief for 63-7865’s last sortie as she goes to the bone yard. It is both amazing and humbling to know that this aircraft had an illustrious history and combat record dating back more than a quarter century before I worked on it for the first time over 18 years ago.”
The retirement of these aircraft gives those who have served with them reason to reflect on the contributions they have made to the history of our Air Force and the world in which we live. For those of us at Ramstein, the retirement of these C-130Es also marks another step in the process of preparing the 86th AW to receive the coming C-130Js.
Scheduled to begin arriving next spring, the C-130Js will ensure the 86th AW’s
continued success as the primary provider of
tactical airlift for the European, African and Southwest Asian theaters of operations.
