Lest They Vanish from This Earth

Founded in 1996 and located on Hagerstown Regional Airport (HGR) in Hagerstown, Maryland, the Hagerstown Aviation Museum is uniquely focused on the history of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation.

On 06 February 2023, the museum proudly announced the donation of a 1993 Fairchild RC-26B “Condor” Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft to its growing collection of Fairchild built aircraft. The donated machine—currently in Houston, Texas—is slated to arrive HGR on 15 February 2023 at 12:00 EST. The museum cordially invites the public to attend the event.

Based on Fairchild Swearingen’s Metroliner twin-turboprop commuter airliner, the RC-26 is an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform in service with the United States Air Force, Navy, and Army. In keeping with convoluted Pentagon nomenclature, the C-26A is the military version of the Model SA227-AC Metro III; the C-26B is the military version of the Model SA227-BC Metro III and Model SA227-DC Metro 23; and UC-26C is the military designation for the Model SA227-AT Merlin IVC.

The first C-26 aircraft were delivered to the US military in 1989 and plied straight away to counterdrug and related operations. By the early 2000s, the National Guard Bureau's Counterdrug Directorate had amassed a fleet of 11 specially-equipped C-26 aircraft which it positioned throughout the United States. The counterdrug configured C-26 aircraft included C-26B-CD ("Counter Drug") and UC-26C aircraft. In 2005, the C-26B-CD received the designation RC-26B.

In addition to supporting state and federal counternarcotics operations, the RC-26B provides photographs of flood damage, identifies search and rescue sites for the U.S. Coast Guard, and seeks out brush and forest fires. The aircraft find and map targets using infrared and electro-optical imaging. After entering USAF service in 1989, RC-26Bs were allocated to Air National Guard units in ten states.

The RC-26B Program came to an end in December 2022, and the aircraft are currently being retired from active service.

Thanks to staff at the GSA and DGS Surplus Property Division of Maryland, the museum was able to acquire a specimen of the historic Fairchild aircraft. The Hagerstown Aviation Museum will use subject aircraft to tell the untold stories of the special units by which it and its counterparts were operated.

FMI: www.HagerstownAviationMuseum.org