The Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, N.C., now has on display an EC-130E that participated in Operation Eagle Claw, the 1980 mission that attempted to rescue the Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran, Iran. The aircraft, No. 62-1857, is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, states the Charlotte museum’s Oct. 19 announcement. “Operation Eagle Claw is only one of thousands of missions this aircraft flew,” said Shawn Dorsch, the museum’s president. “Most of the rest remain classified, and probably will for a long time,” said Dorsch. Spending most of its career flying special operations missions, this EC-130E participated in operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Grenada, and Iraq, states the release. (Click here for history of this EC-130E.) (See also Charlotte Observer report with account from retired Lt. Col. Russell Tharp, one of the aircraft’s pilots on the rescue mission.)
The new defense reconciliation bill includes $7.2 billion for Air Force and Navy aviation accounts, almost half of which will buy more F-15EXs. While electronic warfare, drones, connectivity and airlift all get attention, the F-35 was conspicuously absent from the package, with no explanation given.