Last C-9B Skytrain II Retires from US Navy

Ending its 41-year commitment to a workhorse aircraft, the U.S. Navy retired the last C-9B Skytrain II on June 28 to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group based in Tucson, Arizona.

As of January, the Navy had four C-9B aircraft remaining in its inventory — one was retired in February and two were transferred to Marine Transport Squadron (VMR) 1 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, where they will continue service until replacement aircraft are purchased.

In 2001, C-40A aircraft began replacing the C-9 fleet.

“While many see the retirement [Navy C-9 Skytrain] as the end of an era, PMA-207 looks forward to the future with the C-40A Clipper,” said Doug Dawson, program manager for Tactical Airlift, Adversary and Support Aircraft program (PMA-207). “The improved avionics, longer range and greater payload capacity greatly improve our ability to meet fleet mission requirements.”

The McDonnell Douglas C-9 aircraft was first purchased by the Air Force in 1966, and named the C-9 Nightingale. It wasn’t until 1972 that the Navy ordered its first five McDonnell Douglas aircraft and accepted delivery of the first one in May 1973. Breaking the conventional military naming tradition of similar aircrafts retaining the same name, the Navy chose to name its C-9B variant after the World War II version of the DC-3, calling it the Skytrain II.

[mappress]