AC-130H "SPECTRE" Retirement

[Ed-Spectre]

Retirement of AFSOC's AC-130H fleet has begun. This week all 8 remaining AC-130Hs were launched out of Cannon AFB N.M. in a farewell mission in honor of the first two to be retired. All these aircraft have been in constant demand and all have combat history, most of them having seen combat for the first time in Vietnam, and just finished their career's in Afghanistan. As I understand it two airframes have been picked for display, hopefully Pima or some other Museums will ask for the remaining birds so they can be preserved.

[jonesy]

The Spectre has been one of my all time favourite aircraft. I only managed to see one and that was at RAF Mildenhall airshow in 2000.

[Jesse C.]

Just watched Lone Survivor and there is footage of one of them in action, unless it was CGI, and that is one impressive bird!

[Chappie]

Ed- is this yet another premature retirement of a still capable combat aircraft? How many U-Boats are in service? Will this increase the demand on those aircraft, lengthen deployments, and drive up airframe hours more rapidly?


Chappie

[jonesy]

The J model gunship will be replacing them.

[Ed-Spectre]

Nothing premature about this retirement, those birds have been rode hard these last few years. They are still very capable airframes, but you can tell they are just wore out. I started flying them in 93 and they were pretty long in the tooth back then. They have been in just about every conflict, hot spot etc since Vietnam, plus more that are not readily known to the public. These last few years have been taxing on the airframes, even the AC-130U which I switched to in 2000 is showing the stress of 10 years of constant use in combat. AC-130J is inbound and they also now have the AC-130W.

[tom d. friedman]

the spectre is definetely deadly beautiful, & has saved countless boots on the ground since nam, but what new attributes are in the new "J" model & it's projected longevity??

[Dave C]

I hope a few more are saved. With the history of each of the aircraft several are worthy of preservation. I'm sure Hurlburt will get one for the air park and the other one mentioned will go to Cannon AFB but it would be nice to see some at the larger collections like Pima. With the AF Museum already having an AC-130A and test airframe how likely will they take an H?

Thanks for posting Ed. Were there any pictures of all 8 of them together?

[APG85]

It's very difficult to save Hercs these days as the "museum market" has been saturated with slicks and the NMUSAF has strick control on the "saving" of AF aircraft. The NMUSAF is full-up with three Hercs (two AC-130's and a C-130E). Getting a Herc into a civilian museum is a challenge. Getting the Eagle Claw Herc (EC-130E 62-1857) into the Carolinas Aviation Museum was one of the biggest challenges of my career...and it almost didn't happen.

[Chappie]

Nothing premature about this retirement, those birds have been rode hard these last few years. They are still very capable airframes, but you can tell they are just wore out. I started flying them in 93 and they were pretty long in the tooth back then. They have been in just about every conflict, hot spot etc since Vietnam, plus more that are not readily known to the public. These last few years have been taxing on the airframes, even the AC-130U which I switched to in 2000 is showing the stress of 10 years of constant use in combat. AC-130J is inbound and they also now have the AC-130W.

Good to know Ed. Thanks. I was afraid the Spectre fleet was being reduced, glad to hear newer gunships are coming down the pike. When I got to tech school at Lowry (back in the days when the AFSC was 462) I saw the Z-shred guys working with the guns and suddenly wished I'd gone active duty and been a flying 462. Oh well, 21 years of F-16s has been good...especially that supersonic incentive ride in 2005.


Chappie

[Ed-Spectre]

The link to the Cannon AFB base website has some links to pics. I have seen some photos from my friend's facebook page and it looks like it was an impressive sight! Large formations were common when I was on C-130Es, but we usually only flew gunships by themselves or in pairs. I understand there will quite a bit more coverage to follow. The AC-130W and AC-130J will have fewer guns, but will have other capabilities we never had on the H or U Boat. Mildenhall used to be a common stop for us, be cool if one went to the American Air Museum at Duxford. http://www.cannon.af.mil/

[old iron]

I wonder if one of these might be destined for NASM. They have a much earlier model that has been in long term outdoor storage that is now slated for deaccession.

[p51]

This thread got me wondering what ever happened to the gunship called, "The First Lady," which I saw at a few airshows in Florida back in the day, and on the fields near Eglin.
Good to know she was retired to a museum, I'd hate to have found out she got scrapped!
http://www.spectre-association.org/First_Lady_129.htm

[Chappie]

I wonder if one of these might be destined for NASM. They have a much earlier model that has been in long term outdoor storage that is now slated for deaccession.

It'd be great for one of these combat veterans scooped up by a civilian company. Talk about the ultimate warbird!?


Chappie

[Garth]

I wonder if one of these might be destined for NASM. They have a much earlier model that has been in long term outdoor storage that is now slated for deaccession.

I'd have to wonder where they'd put one. IIRC all of their floorspace was already programmed for aircraft even at the time the Dulles facility was built. They could certainly expand it (particularly to the South, the North end is bordered by protected wetlands). Theoretically they should have allowed enough space for a B-52, but I don't think they did.