This Provider was taken on charge in 1957 as a C-123B and served in Vietnam from 1961 to 1972, first as a UC-123B and later as a UC-123K when the auxiliary J85 jets were added, flying low-level defoliant and insecticide spray missions and cargo deliveries into strips as short as 2,000ft. Stored at Davis-Monthan from 1976 but reactivated for the Peruvian police on drug interdiction work under US Department of State registration N97033 from 1987 (nicknamed "El Burro"), prior to preservation at Dover in 1990. Serial presentation "AF40-658" is of course nonsense and should have read "AF54-658".

A total of 888 C-97s were built, of which 814 were KC-97 tankers. 53-0230 was assigned to the Strategic Air Command in 1955 at Westover AFB, Mass. In 1965 it was converted to KC-97L status at Hayes Aircraft Corp, Birmingham, AL, by the addition of two J47 jet engines and transferred to the Tennessee ANG. To MASDC for storage in 1976 and transferred to the AMC Museum in 10.99

Converted from AT-11 bombardier trainer by Beech in 1953. Acquired by CIA airline Air America in 1960, registered N7950C and operated across SE Asia till 1975, hauling supplies and refugees to remote locations. After several accidents during this period, including an in-flight collision, it was used temporarily for spare parts in Bangkok but was finally assigned to Tainan, Taiwan. Restored at Dover but on long-term loan from USMC Museum at Quantico, VA