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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)

I remember the first time I saw one in person. I was an Army ROTC cadet and in the summer of 1990, I was doing Cadet Troop Leadership Training (CTLT) with 3rd Armor Division in Hanau. I was there from mid-July to late-August, and was in the field when Iraq invaded Kuwait. By the time I'd left, Desert Shield was ramping up, stuff and stuff was being painted Desert Tan.

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.