The 'black' USAF C-32Bs

[Argus 01]

Sound like FUNNY59 indeed. 98-6006 Left to the northeast today(5sep) so we can maybe expect it over Europe again around 1400utc.

ADSBex history is working again without gaps. Over the last two weeks only 98-6006 and 02-5001 show activity. And 00-9001 and 02-4452 from McGuire.

Here 00-9001 landing at Las Palmas: https://www.facebook.com/MeloSpotters/p ... =3&theater

Nice info L . I caught RCH582 on Tampa Liveatc feed departing MCF at 0610z before heading out east over the sea so that is the callsign for it.

It's a pity there's no-one based near Eglin with a scanner as it would be useful to ID the callsigns when they come and go. I've noticed that 25001 uses SHARP callsigns a lot when it's doing local sorties/training flights but annoyingly rarely inputs them for ADS-B.

98-6006 is currently west of Ireland, dest. Brize Norton.

[AK01]

86006 is the one currently west of Ireland, calling RCH582. 24452 departed McGuire about 2hours ago, not sure if it is also crossing to Europe.
Pieter,

[c32tracker]

..and 02-5001 is up off West Virginia Coast and also N226G was up earlier in a different location.

N610G returned to the Eglin area about 10 hours before 02-5001 departed...

Just comparing my notes here. 25001 is either some other unknown frame or there has been a swap between the 2 civil frames at this time (around 20 July). N610G arrived Grant County (MWH) at 2200z on 19 July and RON there until 20th 1600z when it departed to Washington IAD. Meanwhile 25001 was out of VPS 20 July 0139-0308z on a round-robin flight doing pattern work on the N/S runway just SE of Tyndall AFB down the coast. So can't have been N610G.

2 days later on 22 July 25001 was out again 1252-1927z Eglin-Hanscom Field-Oceana-Eglin, but while he was flying up to BED, N226G was flying Washington IAD to Oakland enroute Vietnam for its Camber ops out of U-Tapao. So can't have been N226G!

However N610G flew Seattle to Eglin area in the late evening of 21 July local time and dropped off radar about 10 miles north of Eglin at 5500ft 22nd 0210z ! Quick removal of the fuselage decals and replace with a USAF roundel and some 25001 numbers? I reckon that can be done in 10 hours.

[Ajaxfever]

02-4452 C-32B SHRED78 is in the air now. heading north from Tampa. Flying just west of Savannah.

[Ajaxfever]

02-4452 C-32B SHRED78 is in the air now. heading north from Tampa. Flying just west of Savannah.

it ended up at Andrews AFB on 01L just a couple of minutes ago.

[Joost Michiels]

98-6006 just popped up on ADSB departing NAS Oceana as Genic 20.
Current heading w-nw

[pilotman6012]

Just picked up 02-5001 off Eglin northbound over Birmingham 128.7250,126.8720,128.15,118.4 now up Nashville approach as LULU 01.

[n5205e00421]

Just comparing my notes here. 25001 is either some other unknown frame or there has been a swap between the 2 civil frames at this time (around 20 July). N610G arrived Grant County (MWH) at 2200z on 19 July and RON there until 20th 1600z when it departed to Washington IAD. Meanwhile 25001 was out of VPS 20 July 0139-0308z on a round-robin flight doing pattern work on the N/S runway just SE of Tyndall AFB down the coast. So can't have been N610G.

2 days later on 22 July 25001 was out again 1252-1927z Eglin-Hanscom Field-Oceana-Eglin, but while he was flying up to BED, N226G was flying Washington IAD to Oakland enroute Vietnam for its Camber ops out of U-Tapao. So can't have been N226G!

However N610G flew Seattle to Eglin area in the late evening of 21 July local time and dropped off radar about 10 miles north of Eglin at 5500ft 22nd 0210z ! Quick removal of the fuselage decals and replace with a USAF roundel and some 25001 numbers? I reckon that can be done in 10 hours.

Yes, with those two swaps indeed these flights can all be done with two aircraft: if 25001 arrived 20/7 0308utc, and continued as N226G 21/7 0435utc for its Asia trip.....and when N610G arrived 22/7 0210utc and continued as the “new” 25001 departing 1252utc.

There are not many pics online of 25001 considering how much it flies, but between these random pics there must have been already a minimum of 6 (!) changes, so it cannot be just one other frame:

20/9/2010 – N226G config - https://www.flickr.com/photos/aviationboy/5009704555/

29/1/2013 – N610G config - https://www.flickr.com/photos/eor1/8428723058/

10/2/2015 – N226G config – https://www.flickr.com/photos/fisherbray/16528983382/

24/4/2015 – N610G config - https://www.flickr.com/photos/microvolt/17073716388/

25/9/2016 – N226G config - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcspotter/29280602683/

26/4/2017 - N610G config - https://www.flickr.com/photos/twa1049g/33462853594/

5/7/2017 - N226G config - https://www.flickr.com/photos/garrison27/35487986253/
(two weeks before 25001 should have become N226G again, see above)


If another frame would be involved, there should be a 757 “missing” somewhere. I have made a list of all 1050 B757’s ever built and tried to cross out the ones that can’t be any of the three Eglin C32B’s because of visual differences (freighter, –300, PW or RB211-535C engines, door config, winglets), or because they have clearly been active recently, for sure been scrapped or crashed (before someone brings up the 9/11-planes: N591UA had PW engines and together with N644AA it had no 3rd door). Every conversion is possible but the only 757 that remains unaccounted for in my list is earlier mentioned N144DC. I would love to see evidence of where that plane has ended up, as I just think it is more likely that such an old and adapted aircraft would go to a scrapyard or a museum. It ís registered to L-3 Capital however.... According to the FAA’s AGHME list (six stations over the US compare transponder-altitude with a time-measured “multilaterated” position) N144DC has not been seen since 2006, at least using its own transponder(still as N557NA?). Both Comco’s have recent flights logged there.
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/separat ... _IGA_A.pdf
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/separat ... g_methods/

Just picked up 02-5001 off Eglin northbound over Birmingham 128.7250,126.8720,128.15,118.4 now up Nashville approach as LULU 01.

Thanks, that flight is missing from ADSBex.. Also, 98-6006 arrived the 7th at Eglin, and departed the 9th from NAS Oceana. There are not many gaps like that.

L.

[pilotman6012]

Speaking of 98-6006 just passed thru as LAMA 32 Looks like came from New Mexico and headed in direction of Fayetteville,NC descending .

[AK01]

Speaking of 98-6006 just passed thru as LAMA 32 Looks like came from New Mexico and headed in direction of Fayetteville,NC descending .

Saw it on ADSB yesterday around 20.00utc departing from McClellan AFB/CA flying east.
At the same time 24452 departed Tucson intl flying south over Mexico.
Pieter,

[pilotman6012]

98-6006 is back up as NOTO 99 over Birmingham at 35,000 westbound,came off of Fort Bragg.

[c32tracker]

Just picked up 02-5001 off Eglin northbound over Birmingham 128.7250,126.8720,128.15,118.4 now up Nashville approach as LULU 01.

Is it possible to find out from the ATC hand off where it landed? https://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=KBNA

Track log suggests it landed at KHOP at 1518 and out again about 1640 but it ends and starts at around 5000ft and there are a few other airfields in that area.

Also do you have info on the flights this frame makes out of VPS to the west of Mobile? Eg. on Sep 8 it did a round robin flight out of VPS 1548z and back at 1746z. Disappeared off radar W of Mobile at 1615 at FL210 and reappeared an hour later in roughly the same position and FL but now heading E. I suspect they are doing AAR practice which would explain why the transponders pings suddenly disappear.

@ L -updating now.

[n5205e00421]

Also do you have info on the flights this frame makes out of VPS to the west of Mobile? Eg. on Sep 8 it did a round robin flight out of VPS 1548z and back at 1746z. Disappeared off radar W of Mobile at 1615 at FL210 and reappeared an hour later in roughly the same position and FL but now heading E. I suspect they are doing AAR practice which would explain why the transponders pings suddenly disappear.

It looks like an AAR practice-flight indeed. KC135 62-3507 came from the northwest towards Mobile, descended to 22000ft, made one orbit and started flying west together with 02-5001 at 21000ft at 16:09z.
Both aircraft disappear for over an hour and reappear almost at the same spot at 1720z, probably just after splitting up.



So far I haven't found pics of 02-5001 and 98-6006 with a good view of the refuelling area, only of 99-6143 with 13/17 windows and old pics of the Comco aircraft.

But this pretty much proves that the Eglin-based frames also can use AAR.

L.

[Le Addeur noir]

C-32B? 02-5001 showing on ADS-B at 14:45Z on 16 Sept as BROMA08 at FL360 south west of Columbia, SC having departed Pope AFB, NC.

[n5205e00421]

On 3/4 Oct 2017 99-6143 paid Brize Norton a visit as RCH584 in N226G-config : https://flic.kr/p/Z8PRi8
This serial had not shown activity since Dec 2016, except for one return-flight Eglin-Greenville Majors in May 2017.

Mode-S history is still not being updated instantly at ADSB-Exchange, but the last two weeks have just become available:

98-6006 did a tour in Asia the second half of September, in N610G-config: https://twitter.com/SuneKuma/status/911937193224028160
..returning not to Eglin but ending up at Greenville Majors at 29 Sep around 1350 utc.

Coincidentally 02-5001 did a return Eglin-Greenville-Eglin 29 Sep as well, with a quick turnaround between 1650 and 1715 utc at Greenville (Pickup stuff & crew from 98-6006, which had not been in Eglin for 12 days?). A swap of frames here would be possible mode-S-wise, but doesn’t fit with window-counting. 98-6006 Remained at Greenville while 02-5001 returned to Eglin and probably operated to Brize as 99-6143 a few days later.

N226G and N610G have no mode-S history since 17 Aug resp. 22 Jul. Still all flights of these five regs/serials can be flown with two frames.

L.