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Fuselage of historic rocket plane arrives in Glenville 6 July 2018 The fuselage of a rocket-boosted plane that was designed to rescue Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis arrived just in the nick of time Friday evening at the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Glenville, part of a piece-by-piece transfer of the historically significant craft from Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. The truck carrying the fuselage experienced difficulties on its journey. After getting hung up by a traffic light on Route 155 in Guilderland at about 1 p.m., it had to park on the roadside for hours because its permit did not allow for transport during rush hour between 4 and 6 p.m. The truck then moved swiftly to make it to the museum before sundown, as the same permit did not allow travel after dark. The truck and its State Police escorts arrived at the Schenectady County Airport moments after the sun set Friday evening. The Lockheed YMC130H, which took part in the secret operation code-named Credible Sport, “was made to land in a soccer field – to land in 600 feet and take off in 600 feet, with a full load. And it was built to rescue the hostages in Iran in 1980,” said Dan Wilson, acquisitions officer at the museum and project director of the plane’s transfer. The military-transport aircraft was one of three C-130’s retrofitted — with rocket engines and aerodynamic modifications allowing abrupt arrivals and departures — to aid the American hostages, who were held for 444 days after students supporting the Iranian Revolution seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The remaining two were no longer needed when the hostages were released moments after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January of 1981, and one was stripped of its retrofitting and returned to regular service. The other, which arrived Friday in Glenville, has spent the ensuing years at Robins Air Force Base, which has donated it to the Glenville museum. “This is the most historic aircraft we ever got, and we’re honored to get it,” Wilson said. The plane will be reassembled this September by a team from Robins Air Force Base, he said, adding that the museum hopes to obtain assistance in its subsequent renovation from the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at the Stratton base in Schenectady. Three tractor-trailers delivered the airplane’s wings and tail last week, Wilson said. The 97-foot-long fuselage arrived on a fourth Friday, with two more trucks coming in future weeks: one carrying four engines, the other carrying propellers. He estimates “six to eight months” of painting and renovation – to give it “a totally authentic” look adhering to the original specifications -- before the plane is put on display at the Aerosciences Museum. Its rockets will not be demonstrated live for visitors. “Uh, no,” Wilson said.