Hawai'i's second C-17 Globemaster III will arrive Tuesday from Long Beach, Calif., shepherded in by Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, head of the Hawai'i National Guard.

The combined active duty and Air Guard crews that fly and maintain the Air Force's latest-generation cargo carriers are not wasting time getting familiar with the first of the $200 million aircraft, or flying combat missions to Iraq and Afghanistan with Mainland-based C-17s.

The Spirit of Hawai'i — Ke Aloha flew its first sortie from Hickam Air Force Base to the Marine Corps base at Kane'ohe Bay for touch-and-go landing practice Monday with a crew that was mostly, if not all, active duty, officials said.

On Wednesday, the Air Guard flew its first mission to Maui, Hilo and Kona. And yesterday the C-17 was flown with a mixed crew to Barking Sands and Lihu'e on Kaua'i.

About 30 civic leaders, as well as two Medal of Honor recipients, are flying out to Long Beach with Lee and will fly back on the second C-17, which is yet to be named, for the noon dedication at Hickam.

"As far as the dedication of the new aircraft, as they come in, both active duty and the Guard are rotating the lead," said Hawai'i National Guard spokes-man Maj. Chuck Anthony. "The (active duty) 15th Airlift Wing will support us next week, just as we supported them" on Feb. 8, when the first plane came in.

The partnership between the 15th Airlift Wing and 154th Wing of the Hawai'i Air Guard to fly and maintain the squadron of eight C-17s is one of the first in the nation. With increasingly tight budgets, it serves as a model for future part-time and full-time Air Force cooperation.

The basing also represents the first time C-17s have been stationed outside the Mainland. Additional aircraft will arrive about every three weeks, with the eighth C-17 expected at the end of September or in early October.

The aircraft will be in high demand for worldwide airlift missions, and Air Guard crews already have logged more than 1,800 combat hours flying into locations like Iraq and Afghani-stan on Mainland-based C-17s.

Lt. Col. Al Alana, an Air Guard C-17 pilot who also flies for Northwest, said at any given time about a half dozen Air Guard members are flying on missions that take them "into the box," as the combat flights are called, usually with C-17s out of Jackson, Miss., or McChord Air Force Base in Washington state.

"Our focal point is picking up our wounded, and then we bring them back to Germany or (Washington, D.C.) or San Antonio," Alana said.

Alana has flown into Iraq or Afghanistan at least six times.

"Once a month I'll go downrange and augment the Jackson or McChord unit to get the experience of combat tactical flying, so I can bring that expertise back to the home unit," he said.

In April, a Hawai'i-based C-17 is expected to take part in a multistate disaster response exercise in Arizona. Members of the Air Guard's 154th Medical Group with doctors and nurses would practice aeromedical evacuation of wounded.

The C-17 jets are replacing an Air Guard squadron of propeller-driven C-130 Hercules, the last of which flew out of Hawai'i on Wednesday for Idaho.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.