Another C-17 Delivered

The Air Force’s 221st C-17 transport touched down at JB Charleston, S.C., its beddown location, after a flight from Boeing’s C-17 assembly plant in Long Beach, Calif. Gen Paul Selva, head of Air Mobility Command, piloted the factory-fresh C-17 from Long Beach to Charleston on April 25. With this delivery, Boeing has supplied all but two of the C-17s that the Air Force has ordered, company spokeswoman Cindy Anderson told the Daily Report on Wednesday. Boeing is expected to deliver the service’s two remaining C-17s later this year, also to Charleston, according to AMC. The Air Force has ordered 224 C-17s in total, one of which the United States supplied to the multinational consortium of NATO and partner nations that operates three C-17s out of Papa AB, Hungary. That leaves 223 meant for the Air Force, said Anderson. Boeing supplied the previous C-17, the 220th in the series, in late March. The Air Force’s first C-17 entered the inventory in June 1993. (Includes Charleston photo caption by SrA. Dennis Sloan)