With a little help from our friends Published June 15, 2010 By Senior Airman Joseph D. Harwood 179 AW MANSFIELD, Ohio, May 2010 -- The line-up isn't what it once was. Our Maintenance Group would be the first to tell you that their job is going through changes. Here at the 179th Airlift Wing, we are slowly converting to a new aircraft, the C27J Spartan. A change like that can't happen overnight and while some of our Hercs have left, the maintenance workload has gone with them. We are currently down to three "Mansfield Tails," one blank tail preparing for its departure and...one visitor. This visitor is unlike the others, sporting a slightly darker grey with a lighter color underbelly, a scanners position window and a cable across the top that we don't normally see...that's because our visitor isn't just another Herc, it's called an MC130P Combat Shadow and it belongs to the 129th Rescue Wing of Moffett Federal Field in Sunnyvale, California. It's here for our Maintenance Group to perform an Isochronal Inspection. While some of our aircraft have left, it doesn't mean that our Maintenance folks will have nothing to do. It just means that they will have more visitors. The MC130P Combat Shadow is just the first of a series of aircraft scheduled to appear in the Mansfield skies in the coming months leading up to the transition to our new mission.