The C-27A Spartan (G.222) is a medium-sized short take-off and landing military transport aircraft. Built by Alenia Aeronautica in Italy and introduced in 1978, The C-27A was developed to meet a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) specification originating in 1962. Italy was initially the only NATO member to adopt the type, however, the United States purchased a small number of G.222s, beginning in the early 1990’s, designating them the C-27A Spartan. In total, 111 C-27A Spartans were built. A modernized variant, the Alenia C-27J Spartan, has also been developed. While it retains many aspects of the original aircraft, the C-27J adopts the same engines and many of the systems used on the larger Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. The C-27A was officially retired by the United States in 1999 as rising maintenance costs forced the Air Force to cut the aircraft from its inventory. In 2009, over a dozen C-27A’s were sent to Afghanistan under contract, but soon after were withdrawn and scrapped after maintenance support from Alenia had run out.

 The Museum’s C-27A Spartan was built in Naples, Italy in 1992 and purchased by the United States Air Force. The aircraft was operated by the 310th Airlift Squadron, 24th Wing at Howard AFB, Panama and participated in anti-drug operations in South America. The aircraft was retired in September of 1997 and placed in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base with the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG). In 2014, the aircraft was sold and purchased by a private owner and flown to the Tillamook Air Museum in mid-2016, where it is on loan.