Boeing employees emphatically waved American and Kuwaiti flags on Thursday as officials from the Kuwait Air Force accepted delivery of that nation’s first C-17 military airlifter.
The ceremony at Boeing’s C-17 plant in Long Beach was a testament to the relevance of the Globemaster III more than two decades after its first flight.
“It is always a great privilege to deliver a C-17, but it is an extremely high honor when that delivery is to a brand-new member of the C-17 global family,” said Nan Bouchard, Boeing vice president and C-17 program manager, to the assembled group.
The event under a hot sun also served as a reminder that the aircraft facility’s days are numbered, as Boeing announced last year that it will close the plant in 2015 because of insufficient orders.
“We’re happy to have a new customer,” said Stan Klemchuk, president of the United Aerospace Workers Local 148, which represents 1,100 C-17 machinists and support staff. “We’re proud of this aircraft. My members are resilient and will get through this. It’s a happy day and a sad day.”
This is the first of two C-17 planes that Kuwait has ordered. The second is set for delivery in the summer.
Unlike most other C-17 aircraft that Boeing has delivered, the Kuwait plane is not painted all in Air Force gray. Instead, the 174-foot-long craft has a custom paint job with bright white along the top half of the fuselage and the Kuwaiti flag colors separating the white from the traditional gray underneath.
The bright white accentuates the lettering in English and Arabic that reads “Kuwait Air Force” on the nose and tail of the plane.
“When this C-17 arrives delivering humanitarian aid or disaster relief anywhere in the world, people in need will know that the aid came from Kuwait,” said Col. Abdullah Al Foudari, deputy commander of the Kuwait Air Force.
Qatar is the other country that has received a C-17 with a similar eye-catching paint job.
Bouchard praised the Boeing paint team, including Tony Giamberdino, manager of the C-17 paint shop.
“We had the challenge to paint this as a decorative paint job, which we don’t usually do,” Giamberdino said. “Our saying in the paint shop, because we know we’re closing, is we want to finish with pride.”
Today, a six-person Kuwaiti crew will fly the plane home accompanied by a U.S. crew. The Kuwaiti crew recently completed several months of training on operating the plane.
The C-17 plant has 19 more planes to deliver before closing in late 2015.
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