Delaware State News
DOVER — A cloudy Wednesday afternoon brightened just in time for the arrival of the Spirit of Delaware, the final member of a fleet of aircraft that have enhanced Dover Air Force Base’s renown for delivering the stuff the U.S. military needs around the world.
The Spirit of Delaware is a C-17 Globemaster III, a cargo plane that might remind casual observers of the Dover stalwart C-5 until they notice it is a bit smaller, a lot more agile and surprisingly quiet.
About 200 airmen, Delaware dignitaries and others witnessed the landing of the base’s 13th C-17, piloted from California by the top officer in the Air Mobility Command, Gen. Arthur Lichte. He brought the plane to a halt next to a stage set up at the Air Mobility Command Museum, just off Del. 9 at the base’s south end.
Nearby were planes of other eras, such as the Dover’s first major airlifter, the C-54 Skymaster from the 1940s, and the base’s last fighter, the F-106, a familiar local sight from 1963 to 1973.
"You can almost hear the old aircraft out here say, ‘There’s a new guy in town,’" Gen. Lichte told the crowd. "Look at the young guy."
The "young guys" of the base’s C-17 fleet have been on 1,400 missions since they first arrived in mid-2007. They have carried 12,000 passengers and 33 million pounds of cargo.
On Aug. 13, one of them delivered the first U.S. shipment of humanitarian aid to the nation of Georgia following the Russian invasion five days earlier, Gen. Lichte said.
With its C-17s and its 18 C-5s, the Dover base has carried more cargo than any other this year, said base spokesman Lt. Brian Maguire.
"This base," U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle, R-Del., said, "is at the heart of what we do in America, what we stand for."
The Spirit of Delaware wasn’t expected to make a long initial stay in the state whose name it bears. Within hours, its first mission was likely to begin — probably a flight to Iraq or Afghanistan, though that wasn’t certain, said Lt. Col. Craig LaFave, a Dover pilot.
Col. LaFave began piloting C-17s this year after 14 years in C-5s. "You could equate (the difference between the two) to the C-5 being a Cadillac and the C-17 being a sports car."
The sporty C-17 attracted Bob Wall Sr. of Dover, one of a handful of veterans invited to the ceremony.
"This is the first time I’ll really see it," Mr. Wall said as he awaited his close-up view. "I was an Army pilot in World War II," taking C-46s across the Himalayas.
Pilots from Dover will take the Spirit of Delaware to whatever dangerous place it is needed, said Col. Steven B. Harrison, commander of the base’s 436th Airlift Wing. "I think it’s poetic that when we enter some of the toughest neighborhoods in the world, it will be the Spirit of Delaware that will be delivering hope."
