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050922-F-2089T-002 First Lt. Eric Palichat, a C-141 pilot with the 445th Airlift Wing, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, says he is looking forward to flying C-5 Galaxies. The Air Force Reserve Command unit is slated to get its first C-5 jumbo jet Oct. 3. (U.S. Air Force photo by Maj. Ted Theopolos)

Photo by Maj. Ted Theopolos

Air Force reservists fly last C-141 mission to combat zone

21 Oct 2005 | Maj. Ted Theopolos

C-141 Starlifter aircraft began shuttling sick and wounded from combat zones more than 40 years. That ends Sept. 30 when the plane’s last war-time mission returns from Iraq.

An aircrew from Air Force Reserve Command’s 445th Airlift Wing left here Sept. 25 to take cargo to Europe and bring military patients out of the Middle East. The flight will be the last Operation Iraqi Freedom mission for the C-141 crews and aircraft. Medical people will continue their aeromedical role on other kinds of aircraft.

“Many of our missions aboard the C-141 were to Vietnam in the 60s and early 70s to carry patients and human remains back just as we do now,” said Chief Master Sgt. Richard Hays, chief loadmaster for the 445th AW. “I will really miss the plane and the mission as I will be retiring with the airplane. Since this is the only thing I’ve done in my life for 36 years, it has been my life. I will miss it immeasurably.”

Wing reservists began flying C-141 aeromedical evacuation missions in support of the Global War on Terrorism more than 2½ years ago. At the beginning of the war, the aircraft flew an average of six to seven times a week.

To keep up the pace, the 459th AW, Andrews AFB, Md., and the 452nd Air Mobility Wing, March Air Reserve Base, Calif., contributed to this mission with their C-141s.

However, two years ago the Andrews unit turned in most of its C-141s and converted to KC-135 tankers. By the end of last year, the March unit was down to a handful of C-141s in preparation for receiving C-17 airlifters.

The 445th AW is the last C-141 operational wing in the Air Force and it’s converting to C-5 airlifters. The first of 11 C-5 Galaxy aircraft will arrive Oct. 3 – three days after the last C-141 OIF mission is scheduled to land back at Wright-Patterson.

“I’m looking forward to flying a larger aircraft,” said 1st Lt. Eric Palichat, a 356th Airlift Squadron pilot. The lieutenant has been activated since February 2004 and has flown into Iraq more than 30 times on aeromedical missions.

“We’ll miss the C-141, but I’m looking forward to flying missions on the C-5,” he added. “I just wish we were getting more of them.”

Since 2002, C-141s have flown more than 2,000 combat sorties and moved more than 70 million pounds of war fighting material.

More importantly the aircraft have transported more than 70 percent of the sick, injured or wounded out of the Middle East. The 445th AW has been flying these missions four times a week for the last year. Reservists supporting this life-saving mission from aircrews to maintenance, aerial port and life support members will deactivate soon after the last OIF mission.

After Sept. 30, wing aircrews will continue flying C-141s, mostly inside the borders of the continental United States, until spring of 2006 when the last C-141 will fly out of the Air Force inventory and into aviation history books.

“The C-141 has proven its aeromedical evacuation role through the test of time,” said Tech. Sgt. Larry Davis, an aeromedical technician with the 445th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and a 17-year veteran with a lot of training time on C-141s.

“We’ll be training primarily on C-130s now,” he said. “Good aircraft but they don’t hold as many patients as a C-141. The C-17 will be more comfortable for the patients, but it will have to prove itself.” (AFRC News Service)