AirForces Monthly – September 2019

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #378 September 2019 // 17

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Final AC-130U Spooky deployment

THE LAST scheduled combat

deployment for the USAF’s

AC-130U Spooky gunship

came to an end with the

return of serials 89-1056 and

90-0167 to Hurlburt Field,

Florida, after completing their

mission in the US Central

Command region. The two

aircraft arrived at Hurlburt

on July 8, departing the

Middle East via Ramstein

Air Base in Germany, and

RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

The aircraft are flown

by the 4th Special

Operations Squadron

(SOS) ‘Ghostriders’, which

received its first AC-130U

in May 1995. The squadron

saw action in the Balkans

during Operations Joint

Endeavor and Allied Force

between 1996 and 2001.

For the last two decades,

the unit’s Spooky fleet had

been regularly deployed

to the CENCTOM area of

responsibility, including

combat over Afghanistan

and Iraq. The ‘Ghostriders’

supported Operation

Enduring Freedom from

October 2001, and Iraqi

Freedom from March 2003.

The USAF ordered

13 AC-130Us between

1987 and 1992. Rockwell

performed the conversion

from the basic C-130H

airframe, before deliveries to

Hurlburt Field commenced

by July 1994. Aircraft

initially joined the 16th SOS,

briefly flying alongside the

AC-130H Spectre, before

being reassigned to the

4th SOS exclusively.

In March 2007 Boeing

was contracted to convert

four additional C-130Hs to

AC-130U standard, these

joining the 105th Airlift

Squadron at Nashville

International Airport, as

part of the Tennessee

Air National Guard.

It’s expected that the

majority of AC-130Us will

either be retained for training

or retired. Its frontline

mission has now been

assumed by the AC-130J

Ghostrider. Bob Archer

Above: AC-130U 90-0167 arrives at RAF Mildenhall on July 3, before crossing the Atlantic on its return to Hurlburt Field. Bob Archer

Special

operations

Osprey

squadrons

established

at Yokota

TWO NEW USAF special

operations squadrons

(SOS) responsible for

the CV-22B tiltrotor have

been formed at Yokota

Air Base, Japan. The 21st

SOS ‘Dust Devils’ and the

753rd Special Operations

Maintenance Squadron

will be responsible for

five Ospreys and will fly

missions on behalf of

the Special Operations

Command Pacific and

Special Operations

Command Korea. The

tiltrotor aircraft had been

operating from Yokota as a

detachment of the Okinawa-

based 353rd Special

Operations Group since

last October. An activation

ceremony for the two new

units took place on July

1. Ultimately, it’s planned
   to station ten Ospreys
   at the base supported
   by 450 personnel.

First F-35A for Air

National Guard

LOCKHEED MARTIN has

begun testing an initial F-35A

for the Vermont Air National

Guard – the first ANG

operator of the Lightning II

• from its Fort Worth facility
  in Texas. Serial 17-5265 was
  already wearing ‘VT’ tailcodes
  when it made its maiden
  flight on July 31. The first
  of 20 Joint Strike Fighters
  destined for the base is also
  marked as the commander’s
  jet of the 158th Fighter Wing

(FW), stationed at Burlington

Air National Guard Base,

Burlington. The tail fins carry

the insignia of the Vermont

ANG’s ‘Green Mountain

Boys’, while the badge of the

158th FW’s constituent 134th

Fighter Squadron ‘Yellow

Scorpions’ is applied on the

engine intakes. First deliveries

to the wing are scheduled

for September, with plans

for 18 primary aircraft and

Carl Richards two spares to be fielded.

USAF crew fl ies HH-60W

A USAF crew has taken to

the air in the service’s new

Combat Rescue Helicopter,

the HH-60W. A flight-

test crew from the 413th

Flight Test Squadron (FLTS)

conducted the sortie from

Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach

facility, Florida, on July

11. The unit has air force
    personnel embedded with
    the contractor to provide
    “early warfighter involvement
    and operationally relevant
    developmental testing”.
    The July 11 test flight
    collected data ahead of the
    programme moving into the
    production and deployment

phase. The crew performed

an instrumentation and

telemetry checkout with

the control room, gathered

basic engine start data and

flew referred-gross-weight

level-flight speed sweeps

between 40kts and maximum

horizontal speed. Maj Andrew

Fama was the first USAF pilot

to fly the aircraft and used

the flight to complete his

qualifications on the aircraft.

Six aircraft are involved in

the HH-60W developmental

test programme and the

413th FLTS is scheduled to

begin operations on the type

at Duke Field later this year. Lockheed Martin

17-20 USNews AFM Sep2019.indd 17 8/5/2019 4:07:19 PM