Published May 18, 2015
DAYTON, Ohio - C-123K Patches and Ranch Hand exhibit in the Southeast Asia War Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Provider unloading U.S. Marines at Calu, South Vietnam. On this airlift, 13 C-123s delivered 475 troops and over 12,000 lbs of equipment. (U.S. Air Force photo)
C-123Bs in the U.S. in the 1950s. The external tanks next the engines carry extra fuel. (U.S. Air Force photo)
C-123B dropping ammunition to forward-deployed troops in South Vietnam in 1966. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The ten C-123Js built had J44 jets mounted on their wingtips, and the type saw extensive use in the arctic. This C-123J is pictured at Thule Air Base, Greenland, in 1958. (U.S Air Force photo)
Two Providers were heavily modified for night operations under PROJECT BLACK SPOT. Designated the NC-123K (or AC-123K), this type had an infrared scanner, low-light level television, a laser range finder and cluster bomb dispensers to attack enemy trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Flight engineer SSgt. Leonard Gill, Jr. examines the J85 engine on a C-123K at Kham Duc, South Vietnam, in 1967. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Patches early in the Ranch Hand program when it was still a C-123B. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Patches in the summer of 1971. Unlike most C-123s later in the war, Patches was not camouflaged. The natural metal was a way to indicate to the communists it was spraying to control the mosquitoes—a common enemy—thereby making it less likely to be shot at. (U.S. Air Force photo)
A1C Robert Norton, Patches’ last crew chief in Southeast Asia, at Bien Hoa Air Base. Note that the number of hits is at 553 at this date. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Patches’ nose art near the end of its service in Southeast Asia. Someone has humorously written the number of misses above the number of hits. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Chase XG-20 glider, from which the C-123 evolved. There was no provision for fuel in this glider, so the C-123’s fuel tanks were located in the rear part of the engine nacelles. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Ranch Hand aircrews prided themselves on excellent formation flying. This photo was taken when Ranch Hand aircraft were beginning to be camouflaged. Also, their designation was changed from C-123B to UC-123B. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Ranch Hand UC-123 clearing a roadside in central South Vietnam in 1966. Note the aircraft’s very low altitude. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Fairchild C-123 in flight. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Ranch Hand crews showed a sense of humor by painting purple bulls-eyes on their aircraft. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Members of Ranch Hand in 1964/1965, at a time when the program had only four C-123s. The aircraft on the right is the museum’s Patches. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Many Ranch Hand personnel received Purple Hearts for wounds in action. They also recorded them as hearts on the side of their aircraft. Here, A1C Michael L. Shuppert points to his on the C-123 named Leper Colony. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Communist trench revealed by Ranch Hand spraying. It normally took about three days for the spray to start affecting the vegetation. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Four-ship formation on a defoliation spray run. (U.S. Air Force photo)
A1C Richard Wolfe checks the herbicide level as it is pumped into the storage tank aboard a UC-123K in 1969. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Early in the program (and later on anti-crop missions), Ranch Hand C-123s carried South Vietnamese Air Force markings and a South Vietnamese military representative on board. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is located at:
1100 Spaatz Street Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433
(near Dayton, Ohio)