JHD

The aerial spray mission with C-123K\'s was at the Air Force Reserve\'s 907TAG (later TAW) at Ricknbacker ANGB when I joined the unit in 1983. Note that the aerial spray mission is completely different fom the aerial firefighting mission... We used the old Ranch Hand spray systems to spray insecticides and a herbicide (not AO) until the 123\'s were retired to AMARC in the mid-80\'s. One of our C-130A \"Rivit Victor\" aircraft was modified to carry the old spray systems (it was the first C-130 to do the aerial spray mission). The unit later converted to \"straight\" C-130A\'s and then to C-130E\'s, but only a few aircraft were modified for the spray mission. A new spray system (MASS) was acquired for the C-130E. When the 907th converted to the C-141B in the early 1990\'s, the mission (and the MASS equipment) was transferred to the 910TAW at Youngstown...