Quote:
Originally Posted by Llarry
Post-script: The two operational EP-3Bs were joined by ten more advanced EP-3Es in the 1970-80s. Over the years the aircraft were upgraded with advanced systems. One of them -- on a mission about where I flew decades before -- was struck by a harrassing Chinese fighter in 2001 and ended up making an emergency landing in China. Over the years, the original tired airframes were replaced with conversions of newer P-3C Orion patrol planes and are still flying today.
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Does the Lockheed EC-130 fit in here anywhere?
I ask because I knew a pilot who flew that aircraft in support of a Special Operations group during the Gulf War and had previously flown what I think was the same aircraft type off North Korea during routine intelligence gathering missions in the 1980s.
Regarding the 2001 incident, he commented that the EP-3E pilot would have endured a living hell during his time with the Chinese. IIRC, the look on the EP-3E pilot's face immediately upon repatriation bore out that assessment.
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