Last C-17 for Australia delivered

Richard Noble has seen many aircraft come and go from Long Beach’s Boeing Co. plant, where he worked from 1978 until retiring in January.

But as he watched Boeing hand over its latest C-17 Globemaster III military airlifter to the Royal Australian Air Force on Friday, the Long Beach resident couldn’t help but think about the eventual closure of the C-17 production, where he spent much of his career as a mechanic at the company’s East Long Beach plant.

“There’s a sadness,” Noble said, wearing a cap and sweatshirt with a picture of the C-17. “I thought it would go on. It’s been a benefit to the community. A lot of people were happy here, making great money. ... I haven’t digested it yet.”

While this was not the last ever C-17 — the final plane, No. 279, is in paint production — Friday’s ceremonial delivery of the eighth and the last C-17 Australia’s air force procured was nevertheless punctuated with references to the end of the plane’s production by 2015’s sunset.

“With the departure of this aircraft, the time is fast approaching. Boeing will shutter our doors,” said U.S. Lt. Col Laird Abbott, addressing former and current Boeing employees and government officials.

In 2013, a week after Boeing delivered its final C-17 transport plane to the U.S. Air Force, company officials said they did not have enough foreign orders to justify keeping the program open and announced that they would slowly shut down the Long Beach plant, which at the time employed about 2,200 employees. The company also said in 2013 that 13 C-17s were without customers.

Today, a smaller group of employees remain at Boeing to work on the final plane and all but one C-17 has been sold to foreign customers, including Qatar and Australia.

Australia procured its first C-17 in 2006 after its prime minister toured Pakistan and Iraq.

Air Commodore Gary Martin, Australia’s air attache, recalled U.S. Air Force C-17s transporting Australian soldiers to and from both countries.

“That made a gigantic effect on our prime minister,” Martin said.

Soon after, Australia would buy the first of eight C-17s to use for various military and humanitarian aid missions.

Friday’s delivery comes just five months after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced that his government plans to buy two more C-17s as part of his country’s $1 billion investment in the C-17 fleet and upgrades to the fleet’s military base.

“As we prepare for the final aircraft to depart the home of the Globemaster, we pause today to reflect on our past but also look to our future,” Abbott said. “While the C-17 production portion of our mission comes to a close, the sustainment and capabilities portion of our mission endures.”