Remember the C124 Globemaster?

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crazyphil

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Posting on Any fans of the DC3 brought back memory of another
"interesting" flight. Tacoma to Anchorage in January 1953. We
took off and after a while returned because of radio trouble. Took
off a 2nd time and after a while returned because of excessive
icing. 3rd time was the charm. It had the fold down canvas
bench type seats, back to the wall, with a pole or rod in the
canvas just in back of my knees, guaranteed to cut off the
circulation. Cargo was lashed down in front of me that squeaked
and squacked. Then above me was the same type bench seat.
But an Army Major was laying in it. He was airsick. Something
was dripping off the bill of my cap. It was his barf. He must
have been a courier because he had a brief case handcuffed to
his wrist.
 
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I worked on a TDY "old shaky" at Rhein Main AB. you don't realize how big the airplane is until you are standing next to it and then when you are inside of it to have to climb the stairs up to the cockpit. the cockpit is quite a bit above the flightline.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K44L3KmoBU[/ame]
 
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I don't know that I've ever seen one of those in the wild.

I do distinctly recall seeing one or more twin tailed C-119 "Flying Boxcars" fly overhead when I was a kid in the '60s in Chiraq.

c-119_title.jpg
 
In February of 1964 I flew in one from Kimpo AFB, Korea to Tachikawa AFB in Japan. There were seven of us hitching a ride and several aircraft engines aboard. The upper deck was raised and it felt like flying in a barn. We did get to climb up and look around the cockpit. The truth is that it was a better flight than you get today on a crowded commercial flight.
 
When I first joined the Air Force The C-124 was on it's way into history. I was a Air Freight troop and got to load and unload a few. loading could be an all shift event. everything was floor loaded, meaning no rollers. The last load I worked on a Globemaster was rolls of cable the, rolls must have been 20ft tall. they were winched up a ramp and into place and chained down. never got a chance to fly on one.

It was aircraft like the C-47. C-124 and the C-119 that kept the Soviets out of Berlin when they blockaded into early in the cold war. These planes flew day and night bringing in food, heating oil, to feed the people of Berlin. a massive feat at the time.
 
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saw a few early in my career(69-90). flight followed one from some no name island in the s. pacific to Anderson AFB, Guam once. eight hour shift and when I picked it up it had been in the air over 3 hours. went outside and watched it land. didn't think it was ever going to get on the ground. I have a buddy here in town that flew on them out of Memphis while in the TNANG. I heard an older MAC pilot say one time that C-124s didn't take off: they scared the ground away from them. lee
 
Flew on the C-124 from Cannon AFB, NM to Ft Benning, GA one hot summer day in 1965. What a ride. Sometime when I feel like typing a lot I'll tell you a story of one of the sickest airplane rides ever; vomiting sickest.

What a ride.
 
cmort666 said:
I don't know that I've ever seen one of those in the wild.

I do distinctly recall seeing one or more twin tailed C-119 "Flying Boxcars" fly overhead when I was a kid in the '60s in Chiraq.

c-119_title.jpg
Click to expand...


One of them took the top out of a tree on a hill behind my parents home. I often wondered how well that plane survived - and what the pilot said when he landed. :eek:
 
armadillo said:
For many years the only C-99 ever built sat just off the freeway inside the fence of Kelly AFB in San Antonio. It is supposed to be the largest land based prop plane.

Convair XC-99 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Yep!, it was there in 1997, when the USAF gave my DAD an "adult stem cell transplant", it nearly killed him, but it gave him nearly five years, so for that I am still very greatful.

I have a dozen or so pictures of it from the opposite side of the fence, it was pushed back against a very tail chain link fence, and like the B-36 it was derived from, was simply Huge!

Six engines, cowled to the trailing edge with Pusher Props, Noisy little bugger, you can see a video on U-tube.
 
The C-124 was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-4360-63A "Wasp Major" radial engines. Same engine as the B-36 (six) and the C-119 (two). It was a monster of an engine. 28 cylinders in four rows. God only knows how many individual parts. The jet engines that eventually superceded them were simplistic in comparison. Technology from the 1940's can be amazing.
 
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Pretty sure there is a C-124 at the Hill AFB museum north of Salt Lake City. I have driven by a few times since it got there but haven't stopped in for a few years. Pretty good collection there.
 
Saw a C-124 on static display on Armed Forces Day as a kid. I was in awe. It was the biggest thing I'd ever seen. Fast forward to the early 70's. Pennsylvania ANG used them. Always got a kick out of the guy sitting on top during taxi. The eyes of the pilot.
 
I remember the C-124 Globemaster. The Utah Air National Guard use to fly them back in the early 1970s. I had the pleasure of riding in one in 1971 when I was in JR ROTC. It was rattly and really noisy inside. I might need to go and dig through a box and see if I can find an old High School yearbook. I'm pretty sure there are a photo or two from our trip.
 
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