Air Force opts for smaller cargo planes at WPAFB

WPAFB’s 10 C-5 Galaxies  will be retired in favor of smaller C-17s.

A C-5 Galaxy transport airplane is serviced in a gigantic hanger at WPAFB Tuesday April 6, 2010. The Air Force is planning to retire WPAFB C-5 planes and replace them with newer C-17s.

Jim Noelker/Dayton Daily News A C-5 Galaxy transport airplane is serviced in a gigantic hanger at WPAFB Tuesday April 6, 2010. The Air Force is planning to retire WPAFB C-5 planes and replace them with newer C-17s.

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 2:10 PM Friday, April 9, 2010

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The hangars that the government built in recent years to house the Air Force’s massive C-5 Galaxy transport planes get smaller occupants within two years.

The Air Force expects to retire Wright-Patterson’s fleet of 10 C-5 Galaxies, five at a time during fiscal 2011 and 2012, and replace them with eight newer, smaller C-17 transport aircraft. Four of the C-17s are to arrive in the year beginning Oct. 1, 2010, and the remaining four during the following year. The exact timing hasn’t been announced.

The 445th Airlift Wing, the Air Force Reserve unit which operates Wright-Patterson’s C-5s, flies them each week to carry cargoes to international destinations in support of the U.S. war on terror. The big planes, appearing from the ground to be slow-moving, are often seen over the Dayton area on training flights.

The Air Force has 111 C-5 aircraft, some of which date to the late 1960s. The service is spending more than $8 billion to install upgraded navigation systems on 89 of those planes, including new engines for 52 of them.

Wright-Patterson’s older C-5s didn’t make the cut. They are to be retired, likely to the “boneyard” where retired planes are kept at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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