C-123K

The C-123 Provider emerged just after World War II from the XG-20 cargo glider, an all-metal design intended from the start for conversion into a powered assault transport. It first flew as the XC-123 in 1951, and Fairchild built 302 C-123s that entered service in 1955. Providers served around the world for many years, with their peak role in the Vietnam War, where they were used as transports able to land on crude runways near fighting, sometimes under fire. The aircraft in the museum was first assigned in 1956 to the 513th Troop Carrier Squadron at Sewart AFB, Tennessee, transferred to Vietnam in 1963 for service with the 315th Air Commando Wing, served in Panama in 1970, moved to the Air Force Reserve, and was retired to the boneyard in 1976. In 1987 it was transferred to the State Department and loaned to the Peruvian National Police for drug interdiction, then retired and flown to the museum in 1990.

Dover, Delaware · United States