The C-5 that crashed last spring—from crew error, per USAF—just shy of the airfield at Dover AFB, Del., had its wings removed last week by Ohio-based contractor InterGroup Intl. And, the rest of it gets dismantled this week. The contractor, which used “giant mobile shears,” according to an Air Force release, to clip the wings, plans to cut up, melt, and recycle what’s left of the giant airlifter. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center already claimed the cockpit, which they put to use as a C-5 avionics test bed.
The Air Force’s BACN may be cooked—the service plans to retire its entire E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet in fiscal 2028 and equip aircraft to use satellite communications instead.