First AC-130U Spooky retires

  • Published
  • By Airman Kai White
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
The first AC-130U Spooky retired after more than 20 years of service during a small ceremony here, Sept. 21.

"Bad Omen" was delivered to Hurlburt Field Feb. 17, 1995.

"Bad Omen flew more than 2,300 sorties with approximately 5,600 landings and accumulated more than 10,000 hours," said Karl Cirulis, 4th Special Operations Squadron pilot. "Bad Omen was last deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in December 2013 where it accumulated approximately 600 combat hours and flew more than 100 sorties."

Tail number 0163, Bad Omen, had one of its most successful sorties over Afghanistan, July 21, 2011. The aircraft arrived on station to support a task force when the task force started taking fire from all sides.

"The gunship began to take direct action, and true to 'U' model form, the crew performed eight separate engagements using infrared and TV dual-target attacks," said Cirulis. "It fired 146, 40mm cannon rounds and 41, 105mm howitzer rounds to end the engagement."

Bad Omen flew to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Base, Arizona, after the ceremony.