Posted on 05/29/2025 10:24:07 AM PDT by Pol-92064
We live not far from Dover AFB and see them over the farm often. Something that big shouldn’t be able to stay aloft like that.
I got to jump out of one while in the 82d Abn Div in the seventies. Also, flew from Japan to Korea with a historic payload, landing before daylight. Two C130s landed carrying 9 Blackhawks, and they were pulled into the hanger and readied for immediate take off. That morning under the cover of darkness they flew up to the DMZ and made the maiden flight of Blackhawks for USFK flying along the DMZ. This was to show off the helo’s. That morning history was made twice; it was the first time more than Blackhawks had been configured for transport in a single plane as well.
I flew once to the PI on them, and initially the plane was configured for 18 passenger seats, but another 18 passenger seats were configured so a few more of us could get there as passengers.
They are big, they are loud and impressive. They are the daddy of the C141s.
It was the first time more than 4 blackhawks had been configured... five in the one I came in on.
I remember reading the news report on its first landing at Edwards: “The aircraft lost four tires on landing, but landed safely on the other 26”. Love this plane, it delivered a bootleg windshield to me for my Dodge Ramcharger in Panama and took me, The Colonel’s (then Captain’s) wife and our 3-month-old daughter home through the sniper fire during Operation Just Cause.
Colonel, USAF JAGC (Ret)
No kidding. I watched one land at Barksdale way back when.
It's so big it looks almost like it's hovering as it comes in.
Rode one from Ft Lewis to Ft Bliss, Border Star 85. My favorite of all time is the C141, never felt safer anywhere in the air. Slow, noisy, and cold I’ll take it with jump seats and a poncho liner over any first class commercial flight.
After going to the Sinai on the ill fated Arrow Air DC8 Stretch that crashed in Gander the C141 home was a Godsend.
I live just a couple miles from an air force base. They fly the C-17 Globemasters around here a lot along with many other planes. They’re really cool to see close to the ground taking off and landing. C-17s are really not that loud for what they are.
CAN CARRY LOTS OF DEPORTEES!!!
I grew up in Vallejo, CA about 20 miles from Travis AFB.
C-5’s and C-141’s flew over our house every day. Went to many air shows at Travis AFB.
I remember walking inside one at Berry Field in Nashville. I couldn’t believe that thing. The mothership.
Always amazes me when I see a C-17 take off and land on a short runway. You’re thinking “no way he makes it”, but sure enough....
My gawd, those aircraft were almost endless. There was no way one or two could inspect every crevice on that aircraft in the time given before takeoff. The Customs units decided to just concentrate on known places for illegal items.
Still, it was good duty rather than wrestling and busting heads when the clubs closed with our PR-24 batons. Yes, we were allowed and had continuous training. Still have mine. It is a baton with a perpendicular handle on it. That handle gave other ways to maintain control other than clubbing our Sailors/Marines upside the head and body. You've probably seen them in movies. Sorry, got off track.
Lots of men and materiel were being airlifted to Saudi Arabia, with lots of the flights stopping at Rhein-Main. I remember one day looking off in the distance and seeing a C-5. The first impression it made on me was how much of the sky it blotted out compared to any other plane I'd ever seen in flight before.
I grew up in Marietta Ga barely a few miles from the Lockheed Ga plant. I was 6 when I watched, with my parents, the first Galaxy flight from just off the end of the runway.
I got to ride one from Travis to Hawaii and back in the early 90’s. Rode up in the crew compartment, but got to climb down into the cargo bay while in flight. I’d walked through many before at airshows, but never in flight. It was like an open warehouse in flight. Amazing things we were able to build over 50 years ago.
Oh man, I loved the Starlifters! Smooth as any airliner. By contrast the C-5's (cool as they were) were bumpy and even more noisy. You always needed ear-muffs during the ride.
The most tragic casualty of the Russia-Ukraine War, as far as I’m concerned.
The C5A was in the production pipeline and scheduled to arrive the following year at Edwards AFB. There was just one problem: the C5's tail was too tall to fit through any of Edwards' hangar doors. And the Air Force certainly didn't want to leave its brand-new baby sweltering out on the concrete in the 120° sun. So the existing hangar needed a modification: a notch above the door to accommodate the enormous tail.
It fell to us to design it, which is why an engineer and I drove out to Edwards on one very hot August morning. We needed to inspect the hangar and take photos. And so we did.
Does anybody know the C5A was nothing but an expensive boondoggle? I read a book on it in the mid-70’s. A whistleblower named Fitzgerald was transferred to run bowling alleys in Thailand. Converted 747’s would have been a lot cheaper. I’m talking DOGE stuff. The one military application was the front end opened up making it load up faster from both ends. It may have come in handy during the ‘73 Yom Kipper war. Anyone who served can remember being on a higher alert. A big waste of taxpayer money.
Great idea!!
Hearing one taking off? I have. It sounds like 10,000 angry vacuum cleaners roaring at once.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.