Historic aircraft arrives in Hagerstown
Historic aircraft arrives in Hagerstown
by: Skyler Sales | DC NEWS NOW
Posted: Feb 15, 2023 / 06:00 PM EST
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (DC News Now) — From fighting fires to providing aid during hurricanes, this plane has seen it all — and now it’s part of the permanent display at the Hagerstown Aviation Museum.
“We’ve been donated a Fairchild RC-26B, which is a military surveillance aircraft that has cameras, and they did surveillance over floods and natural disasters. It’s been to Afghanistan and all over the world all the years that they’ve been used, and the program came to an end in December of 2022,” said the President of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum John Seburn.
The aircraft has a long history of use by state and federal agencies in narcotics investigations. Now it’s one of 26 aircraft in the collection.
“There’s a company called Swearengen who designed with the help of Swearengen metro, and it’s all computer to an engine computer plane and Fairchild bought the company and started building some of the parts here in Hagerstown and other parts were built in San Antonio, Texas,” he said.
Major Luis Flores has been flying the RC-26B since 2010. He says although he is sad to leave the plane, he’s happy it will be in a place where it will be appreciated.
“It’s been an honor flying this airplane. I’ve found it in combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and I’ve done kind of drug with this same platform anywhere across the country, it’s done some very impressive work,” said Flores.
The 1993 Fairchild RC-26B condor will be available for the public on April 15th during the museum’s first event of the year.
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Story credit: DC News Now