| "Hanoi Taxi" |
| C-141 Starlifter Aircraft Retiring Submitted by: G. Lippincott Click Bible Source: e-mail VVA talklist-Jeff Rhodes, LM Aero Communications Point of History: The C-141 jet transport air-craft that landed at Gia Lam Airport in North Vietnam on Feb. 12, 1973 to bring the first 40 prisoners of was home is due to retire on May 6, 2006. She quickly gained the name "Hanoi Taxi". The Taxi has gone through some modifications in her career, serial number 66-0177, now a C-141C model, was repainted in 2003 with the paint scheme she wore 32 years ago to commemorate that event. She has become a flying museum. The first 40 POW's all signed the aircraft under the wing box and those signatures are preserved under Plexiglass. Framed photos show the POW's in Hanoi and aboard the aircraft. The headrest covers on the flight deck are embroidered with the POW/MIA logo in black and white. Each crew position has a plaque with the crewman's name on it on that historic flight. She has been the flagship of the 445th Airlift Wing and has 39,420 hours of flight time to her credit. She will make her final take off from the Patterson side of the Wright-Patterson Air Force base and be flown to the Wright Field side of the base where she will be on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force located near Dayton Ohio. The first Starlifter was first flown on Dec. 17, 1963, on the anniversary of the first flight of the Wright Brothers. They made their operational debut on April 23, 1965. The C-141 has had an operational career of 43 years and will be replaced by the C-5As. There are only four other Starlifters in service and they too will retire also this year. Personal note: A C-141 Starlifter was this reporters "freedom bird" that brought me home lying on a stretcher. It is with a degree of sadness that I greet the news of this aircraft's passage into history. I will not forget that flight. Glen Lippincott A reprint from, Chapter 678 SITREP, Vietnam Veterans of America, Pocono Chapter 678. |
