SPARTAN STANDS GUARD

C-27J serial 10-27025, operated by the US Army Special Operation Command (USASOC) Flight Company, conducts airborne operations with special operations personnel at the Camp Mackall training facility near Southern Pines, North Carolina, on May 6, 2014. The unit received seven Spartans after the USAF relinquished them. USASOC

The US Coast Guard’s newest mediumrange surveillance aircraft formally entered service on June 30, 2016, when the Leonardo HC-27J replaced the Lockheed HC-130H at Air Station Sacramento, California.

LAST JUNE’S CHANGE of watch ceremony marked the final day that the Hercules stood watch at the California air station, which is located at McClellan Airfield in Sacramento. The HC-130H had operated from the facility since September 1978, when Air Station San Francisco’s fixed-wing aircraft were relocated to the former US Air Force base.

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