Former Marine, KC-130 meet up one last time - Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Former Marine, KC-130 meet up one last time

Seasons change, people grow older and military aircraft retire to the Arizona desert.

But few aircraft are escorted to the boneyard by the same man who was aboard when it taxied off the assembly line.

Nick Dicandia was a gunnery sergeant in 1978 serving as a flight engineer on one of the first KC-130R air refueling jets when it made its maiden voyage from a Georgia factory to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.

The aircraft’s lot number, 160622, was forever lodged in his memory.

When The Bee Gees owned the airwaves and the Blues Brothers first appeared on Saturday Night Live, Dicandia compared the aircraft to a “starship” because of its improved propulsion system, external wing tanks and increased hauling capacity.

“It gave us so much pride seeing the Marine Corps finally get their hands on the latest technology instead of always being out of the loop,” Dicandia said in a Marine Corps news release.

Dicandia moved on with his career and the aircraft continued with its mission of providing in-air refueling.

After retiring from the Corps in 1996, Dicandia accepted a position with Lockheed Martin and was reunited with good ole 160622 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. They parted ways again when the plane was dispatched to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 in Japan several years ago.

Then Dicandia caught up with the venerable aircraft last year at MCAS Futenma, Okinawa, after Lockheed Martin sent him there to continue training Marines on how to transition to the KC-130J, the Corps’ latest air refueling jet.

“It brought back a lot of memories for me,” he said in the release. “I spent hundreds of thousands of flight hours inside that aircraft and after a while, it starts to become part of you.”

The KC-130J Super Hercules is a four-engine aircraft designed for aerial refueling, medical evacuation, search and rescue as well as airborne assault.

The J model boasts increased speed and range as well as an improved air-to-air refueling system, night systems and survivability enhancements compared to its predecessor.

Thirty years after he helped launch the aircraft’s career, Dicandia gladly accepted an offer from a Marine Corps flight crew to join them on the aircraft’s final military flight in mid November to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where it will be housed with the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group.

He said he’d like to see the plane continue flying in private hands, but understands it’s time for the aircraft to gracefully depart the Corps’ inventory.

“After awhile all the old warhorses get put out to pasture,” he said. “Just like I eventually reached my end of service for the Corps, so did this aircraft. But then again people, like aircraft, eventually move on.”