SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The USS Midway Museum has a newly restored aircraft exhibit on board.
A C-2 Greyhound "Carrier Onboard Delivery" aircraft was recently brought from Naval Air Station North Island and craned onto the museum's deck, according to a press release sent Thursday afternoon.
The U.S. Navy had donated the C-2 to the Midway Museum in Aug. 2022, and the museum's aircraft restoration team just recently finished its mission.
Over the nine months since the donation, the team put in 500 hours of work to make sure the plane was in top-tier condition before going on display on the ship's flight deck.
A Midway Museum spokesperson says new modifications to the aircraft's cargo bay will allow museum guests to walk inside of it while the exhibit is open to the public.
San Diego-based Fleet Logistic Support Squadron 30 flew the Greyhound that is currently sitting on the Midway's deck, according to the release. The "VRC-30" marking is still visible on the plane's fuselage.
The museum's spokesperson says the Navy first used the C-2 in 1965, acting as the branch's main at-sea cargo delivery aircraft for more than 60 years. The twin-engine, high-wing aircraft flew passengers, cargo and mail to and from aircraft carriers at sea.
Typically, the Greyhound's crew consisted of two pilots and two cargo specialists. Its range was greater than 1,000 miles, and the aircraft could carry a payload of up to 10,000 pounds.
The C-2 received its last upgrades in the late 1980s, and the last of the new models were delivered to the Navy in 1990. Those aircraft received more upgrades periodically over the last 30 years.
According to the Midway's release, sailors who flew in the cargo area of a C-2 to get on board a carrier were often disoriented, since the aircraft's passenger seats face backwards.
Soon, the Greyhound will be phased out as the Navy works to replace them with the V-22 Osprey, a new aircraft tasked with the carrier onboard delivery missions.
The first V-22 squadron was established in 2020: Fleet Logistics Mult-Mission Squadron 20 (VRM-30). That squadron is also based out of Naval Air Station North Island.
