Posted on 08/03/2004 8:30:56 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
Oshkosh - Among the many planes attracting crowds at EAA AirVenture this weekend is an Air Force Lockheed C-141C that has seen its share of sorrow and heartache.
On Feb. 12, 1973, the military transport airlifted the first American prisoners of war from Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi and took them home to their families.
It was nicknamed the "Hanoi Taxi" by the just freed prisoners who signed their names on a bulkhead inside the plane during the flight home.
Painted in the original colors and markings used in 1973, it's still being used but now in a war far from the jungles of Vietnam. The C-141C is part of the rotation of planes used by the 445th Airlift Wing based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio that take supplies and medical personnel to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Germany and airlift injured soldiers out of those countries.
The plane is also a flying museum - there are photos of the American POWs leaving Hanoi dressed in dark trousers and gray jackets, grinning while sitting inside the plane and returning to America to greet their families. There are North Vietnamese propaganda pictures of POWs and drawings of the torture endured by the men.
The bulkhead with the signatures of the POWs is under protective plastic, and a plaque lists each state with the number of Americans still missing from Vietnam. Wisconsin has 33.
For Tim Baldwin, piloting the "Hanoi Taxi" gives him a sense of history.
"We get a lot of POWs who come to the air shows" who want to go on board again, Baldwin said shortly after the C-141C arrived at AirVenture.
The 168-foot-long plane can hold as much as 34 tons of cargo or 200 soldiers, 103 litters and 14 seats. It travels at a top speed of 500 mph and can soar as high as 41,000 feet. It travels to the Middle East and Europe four to five times a week and generally spends only three to four hours on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan for safety reasons, Baldwin said.
Last week Baldwin and the other crew members carried out 15 patients on litters and 23 walking wounded from Iraq.
Many wounded soldiers don't notice the photos of the Vietnam POWs on the walls until well into the flight, Baldwin said.
"I think they're just very happy to be going home. Once they're on board they see the pictures, and they can see the history," Baldwin said.
Waiting in the line that stretched out the back of the plane was Jerry Duncan, who was visiting AirVenture from Dayton, Ohio, with his wife, Debbie, and 11-year-old son Chris. Duncan was surprised to see the plane considering he had flown it - he recognized the tail number - from 1977 to 1982 when he was based in New Jersey.
"I haven't seen one of these planes in 22 years," said Duncan, who remembered watching the return of the POWs from Vietnam while he was a sophomore at the Air Force Academy.
His roommate's father, Donald Waltman, was one of the returning prisoners of war. Duncan found Waltman's signature in black marker on the bulkhead.
"We sat and watched them on a black and white TV unload the plane. We got some time off to watch it. It was cool," Duncan said.
The Air Force will soon mothball the C-141. Once among the workhorses of military transport planes, the last handful still flying will retire by 2006. The "Hanoi Taxi" - which will be on display at AirVenture through Monday - is destined for the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson next year.
There were only C-141A models in the Vietnam era.
For a second there, I thought Kerry's plane was being renamed.
We know Kerry will open more wounds by trying to write this into his Vietnam War Hero schtick.
It's very interesting history, actually. There is so much more than this was a 'bad war', and I wonder if all the details will ever come out...had 5 cousins in that war...
They upgraded the "A" model Starlifters by putting in fuselage stretch sections in front of and behind the wings during the eighties. After the modification they became "C" models and retained the same serial number they had as an "A" model.
They became "B" models. In the '90s some of the B's in the best shape were upgraded with glass cockpits and designated "C" models. That modification was meant to increase the service life of the C-141 till enough C-17's could be built to replace the C-141's. As more C-17's come off the assembly lines, the C-141C's are being retired.
You are right. They became "B" models first with the fuselage stretch.
I thought of that after I posted. Didn't know what made them a "C" thanks.
Thanks for posting this, FMC. I didn't know that the AF was still flying any C-141s anymore (I'm former Navy aviation). During Nam, they were the workhorse of the AF. I hope that when the "Hanoi Taxi" gets its well-deserved rest by 2006, it will find a new home at either the Smithsonian or the Wright-Patt Air Museum if it's still in operation.
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