'Sherpas' set to trek from Post airfield

By Marie BerbereaOctober 23, 2014

End of an era
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Ready to fly out
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Inventory
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Shipping out Sherpas
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Airworthy
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Adaptable aircraft
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FORT SILL, Okla. -- The last of the Short C-23 "Sherpas" are shipping out of Fort Sill's Henry Post Army Airfield.

Thirty-seven C-23s were flown in from across the United States and put into the care of M7 Aerospace to field out to new owners.

"It's the end of an era," said Nick Stander, M7Aerospace site manager.

The C-23 left the Army inventory in 2012, and was supposed to be replaced by the C-27J "Spartan." The C-27J program was turned over to the Air Force along with the close-in air support mission, but did not come to fruition.

Beginning of the C-23

The C-23 was produced at the Short Brothers' facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

"These were setup as civilian commuters back in the day," said Pat Litchfield, M7 lead mechanic.

They were also used to transport cargo, which is why Stander fondly referred to them as flying UPS trucks.

The U.S. military took the original Short 330 and designated it the C-23A Sherpa. The C-23B Sherpa was similar to the C-23A, but with cabin windows. The C-23B+ and C-23C are Short 360 derivatives created by replacing the rear fuselage of Short 360s with the twin tail and rear loading ramp of the Short Sherpa.

Litchfield described the planes as sound machines and very capable of adapting to whatever mission was required of them.

"We took these things in Iraq in 2003 and brought them out at the end in 2011. They did a lot of work over there as far as hauling cargo and Soldiers and Airmen," said Litchfield. "She's a little slow, but she's a horse."

Fort Sill became the transition hub for these flying buses in 2013.

M7 Aerospace employees have been maintaining the aircraft until buyers fly them out of the Oklahoma skies.

"There were originally 19 states who had them; most of them had two a piece and Alaska had eight at one time. Once the contract was canceled, everything came here and now the government is trying to reallocate them," said Litchfield.

While the airfield here is used for various training missions, it is currently housing the Sherpas and all of the extra equipment that comes with them.

"When you look at a home for these aircraft for the transition period there's quite a few things you've got to look at. You've got to look at the surface area you have available, the facilities that you can adapt, the inventory that had to come here and also the location in general from where all these aircraft are coming from," said Stander. "It's the military's way of being efficient, in the space, the resources that they have."

Various interested parties have reviewed the aircraft and purchased them to include an aircraft mechanic school, NASA and the U.S. Forest Service.

"The Forest Service is going to put jumpers in and if there are fires it will get their advance teams out there so they can attack the fires," said Stander.

Each C-23 has two PT6 engines, 1,000 cubic-feet load capacity and a standard air frame.

They arrived at the airfield with not only ground support equipment, but also all the office equipment associated with those who used to fly them.

"For every one aircraft you can multiply that with a volume of four," said Stander as he walked through a warehouse full of inventory. M7's crew is not only responsible for maintaining the aircraft, but they are also charged with cataloguing row, upon row of replacement parts for the planes or office furniture.

When a purchaser procures a C-23 the aircraft is taxied into a warehouse and fit with all the standard equipment including seats, a restroom and safety gear.

"When the customer comes in and says I want that one and that one it's our job to prepare the aircraft for delivery in accordance with the approved request,"said Litchfield.

He said all inspections are done according to FAA regulations and each C-23 leaves Fort Sill ready to fly.

Currently 21 C-23s are available for the open market according to the policies and procedures of the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office.