Now if only these were all loaded up with MOABS over Iran covered by about 100 Wild Weasels and F-22's.
Posted on 12/23/2005 2:46:43 AM PST by FreedomPoster
12/22/2005 - CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFPN) -- The largest formation of C-17 Globemaster IIIs from a single base took off this morning from here in a demonstration of the strategic airdrop capability of the Air Force.
Seventeen C-17s took off at about 10:20 a.m. Previously, the largest C-17 formation consisting of aircraft and aircrew from a single base was 15 aircraft from McChord Air Force Base, Wash.
The training mission was a joint endeavor embarked on by aircrew members assigned to both the 437th and the 315th Airlift Wings here.
The formation left the base en route to locations around the southeast to perform required quarterly, semiannual and end of year currency training requirements. The crews were able to practice their airdrop and aerial refueling skills during the mission.
The C-17 formation conducted low-level training in the Charleston area before taking part in a massive airdrop at North Auxiliary Air Field, S.C.
Charleston aircrews fly daily missions worldwide supporting the war on terrorism.
On average, Charleston’s C-17s move more than 295 tons of cargo every day. About 45 percent of all air cargo bound for American warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan originates here.
If fully loaded, the 17 airlifters would be able haul more than 2,890,000 pounds of cargo or more than 1,734 passengers.
Not sure, will ask.
Many thanks......be well
My Dad was a hydraulics & pneumatics tech with a C-119 group (reserve) operating out of Willow Grove NAS. He said the hydraulic & fuel lines leaked so badly on the Flying Boxcar that you basically got a shower every time you flew in one.
Now if only these were all loaded up with MOABS over Iran covered by about 100 Wild Weasels and F-22's.
I'm sorry ya had to search FP !.....Ask me next time I get that in e-mail......:o)
Merry Christmas !
In my fantasies, I wish that Thomas Jefferson could see that. He was such an inventor and would have been both proud and amazed at what Americans have done with their freedoms in the realm of technology.
HF
And you told the tale quite well. I've seen some sort field C-17 takeoff demo's and it's truly a marvelous feat. Each time. Never gets old.
Not to mention several AV8B's & V-22's [Osprey's] as well to boot!
Not only could the C-119 fly; it could play 'catch' too!
The Discoverer XIV is the first satellite to be ejected from an orbiting space vehicle and to be recovered in midair. This occurred August 18, 1960, according to the Air Force Museum web page.
The capsule was launched atop a Thor booster rocket. Over Alaska after its 17th pass around the earth, the Agena ejected Discoverer XIV from its nose, and retrorockets attached to the reentry vehicle fired to slow it for the return from orbit. After Discoverer XIV reentered the atmosphere, it released a parachute and floated earthward.
On its third try, an Air Force C-119 recovery aircraft from the 6593rd Test Squadron based at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, successfully snagged the parachute canopy with the recovery gear trailing behind the aircraft. A winch operator aboard the C-119 then reeled in the Discoverer XIV after its 27-hour, 450,000-mile journey through space.
The equipment and techniques for mid-air recovery of data capsules had been developed in an earlier balloon reconnaissance program called Project GENETRIX, according to the ESC History Office. That project was managed by the Air Force Cambridge Laboratories at Hanscom.
Wake up and smell the coffee! Those planes and their crews must fly anyway in order to maintain proficiency. Since they have to be up in any case, why not use the time to practice formation flying skills?
Find some real pork barrel spending to bitch about, like multi-million dollar highway bridges to nowhere in Alaska.
Talk about your basic "Aluminum Overcast!"
Wow!!!!
I was in Charleston in the early 90s when the first C-17s flew in.
Probably didn't manage to get a photog positioned to shoot them all. Separation becomes an issue with that many heavies aloft in proximity.
Add me to the ping list. Remove me from the ping list.
Click Here for information on the Ft.Jackson "Adopt-a-Soldier" program.
CC
The smell of Jp-4, the sounds of a -60 or the Coleman race...Man, I miss the flightline!
Go crying elsewhere... These guys are in need of constant training and this is part of it. Just so happens they added another flight of 5 birds to this mission...it isn't uncommon to see a mass drop going on. When I was at Ft. Devens (Dad was stationed there), we would watch hundreds of 141's drop jumpers onto the ranges and 130s skid cargo on to the field..
C- 17, "The BOX that the CAN-O-WHUPPASS comes in"
Are you possibly suggesting a nickname for this bird... "The Crate"...?
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