Last Boeing C-17 Delivered To U.S. Air Force

The final Boeing C-17 built for the U.S. Air Force was delivered more than 20 years after the company first rolled out the massive, yet versatile transport plane.

Military officials accepted the delivery of the final C-17 Globemaster III during a ceremony on Thursday at Boeing’s Long Beach, California assembly plant.

The final plane was the 223rd sold to the Air Force, according to ABC News. Engineer Bob Grech, who has been with the C-17 program for 19 years, commented that “it was a good run” with the US military.

The massive four-engine plane made its debut flight in 1991 and deliveries began about two years later. The Boeing C-17 is mainly used to transport tanks, supplies, and troops. Several of the planes were outfitted as mobile hospitals and they were used regularly during the Iraq War to evacuate wounded military personnel.

The first production model took off from Long Beach in July 1993 on its way to Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. The final plane took the same exact route, though it added a loop and low flyover at the Long Beach airport before disappearing into the clouds.

Boeing’s final C-17 built for the military also means an end to the massive Southern California plant. The Los Angeles Times notes that Boeing has pushed foreign sales for the past several years as a way to keep the 1.1-million-square-foot plant afloat.

Unfortunately, the plan to save the plant failed. With few foreign orders to fill, the assembly line is expected to shut its doors toward the end of next year. Nan Bouchard, Boeing vice president and the C-17’s program manager, commented that the company “has a long legacy of building military aircraft in Long Beach.”

Along with building the C-17, the Long Beach plant also built the DC-3, the DC-8, and the MD-80. It was originally built by Douglas Aircraft Co., but Boeing inherited the plane when they acquired McDonnell Douglas Corp. in 1997.

While the US military’s final Boeing C-17 has been delivered, it will likely be a common staple for the military in the years to come. The first 50 planes are still in operation and the aircraft has the highest readiness rate of any cargo plane in the US arsenal.

[U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Matthew Hannen via Wikimedia Commons]