The 
last two C-130H transports assigned to Dyess AFB, Tex., departed the base last week for their new home at Little Rock AFB, Ark., as part of Dyess’ ongoing transition to the C-130J. “It’s a bittersweet day,” remarked Col. Walter Ward, Dyess’ 317th Airlift Group commander, of the airplanes’ departure on Sept. 26, in a base release. “We’re not only saying goodbye to the H models that have had a great history here for 37 years, but we are losing flight engineers and navigators” as well, he added. In March 1975, Dyess received the first C-130H to roll off of Lockheed Martin’s assembly line in Marietta, Ga., according to the release. Capt. Christopher Dorough—son of the pilot who ferried the first C-130H to Dyess—piloted the final C-130H that left the Texas base. Lockheed Martin on Sept. 13 delivered the 23rd of Dyess’ planned 28 C-130Js. (Dyess report by A1C Charles Rivezzo)
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…