Background information on the Hanoi Taxi
Lockheed C-141C Starlifter 66-0177 “The Hanoi Taxi”, Starlifter number 66-0177 was the first to carry American POWs from Hanoi to freedom in 1973. during Operation Homecoming when American POWs left Hanoi inside specially marked C-141A Starlifters.
Starting February 12 of that year, special C-141s with red crosses on their vertical fins flew to Hanoi to repatriate the first of 590 released U.S. prisoners of war in a drama filled with emotion. On the first day of Operation Homecoming, C-141A 66-0177, then operated by the 63rd Military Airlift Wing, was followed into Hanoi by Starlifters from the 62nd and 60th Military Airlift Wings. For their special efforts to bring Americans home safely after the ordeal of imprisonment, the aircrews of the Military Airlift Command were honored by the presentation of the prestigious Mackay Trophy for their homecoming efforts in 1973.
This Starlifter still flies two of its primary missions, carrying cargo outbound and medical evacuees back home from Iraq and Kuwait. With about 35,000 hours on its airframe, Hanoi Taxi is nearing a well-deserved retirement. If plans work out, this historic airlifter will make its final hop from an active runway at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to the runway that serves the adjacent U.S. Air Force Museum on February 12, 2006, marking the 33rd anniversary of its first flight from Hanoi by retiring to a place of honour in the museum.
Permission was received to give Hanoi Taxi a retro paint scheme like the one it wore when carrying POWs to safety in the 1970s. This is the only active Starlifter in two-tone gray-and-white paint, which makes it easy to tell when the Hanoi Taxi comes to town.
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