Up to 4!

[OBIO]

The 179th Air Lift Wing, stationed at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport (KMFD) here in Mansfield, Ohio is up to 4 C-27 Spartans. I have seen a lot more of the Spartan here lately, but have only seen one plane at a time...so I assumed they still had just the one plane. I got the chance to talk a member of the 179th in the store a day or two ago, and he told me they now had 4 Spartans. I told him that I missed the Hercs...and he said everyone in the unit misses the Hercs too. The Spartan, he said, is a nice plane, but not as loved as the Hercs were. He was glad to hear that there is at least one person in town who enjoys the sight and sound of the 179th overhead. I told him about being into flight simming and having a C-130 in 179th markings that I fly out of the virtual KMFD to points across the country. He thought that was pretty darn cool.

OBIO

[Railrunner130]

I was only at a deployed location with Mansfield once, but they seemed to be a great bunch of people. Their Herks did go to a good place- St. Joe, Mo. and are being maintained and flown by some good people.

The Spartan seems to be an interesting aircraft, but it's got some odd caviats with it. The Army (who funded them) is requiring them to mirror Army deployments (1 year), which is not a fun thing for the Spartan operators. But, Mansfield is fortunate in that they have airplanes and a mission.