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The Marine Corps’ oldest KC-130 Hercules was flown to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, on 28 February and retired. The aircraft known to crews as 573—from its Navy Bureau Number, 147573—or Battleherk Galactica, was the first KC-130F accepted by the Marine Corps in 1960. The aircraft spent nearly its entire lengthy career—forty-seven years and eight months and 28,000 flight hours—with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152). 573 saw action during the siege at Khe Sanh in Vietnam, during the US intervention in Somalia, and in numerous disaster relief operations throughout the Pacific. VMGR-152, based at MCAS Futenma, Japan, is currently receiving new KC-130J tankers.
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