Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Douglas c-124 Globemaster

 


16 comments:

  1. Planey McPlane face?

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  2. Replies
    1. Yep!
      Ive watched the doors open
      What a sight!

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  3. That is a big boy. I wish I had a contract to furnish those huge landing tires

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  4. Talk about "hanging on the props". Jeebus.

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  5. Ol' Shaky . . . yup, you were there!

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  6. Yup, ol' shakey. Got to ride from NC to Panama on one back in the early 70's. Cargo configured, piles of crates, boxes and bags covered in nets. Us "passengers" got to sit anywhere we could find something to lean or sit on that would not break our ass.. It took every inch of runway to get airborne, we were sweating if it was going to roll onto the fields at the end but it made it. Boy talk about a slow climb to altitude. Good times for a 19 YO swabbie.

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    1. NC to Panama, Swabbie? I am guessing Corpsman? HooYaa Navy

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  7. General Ripper: The all weather interceptor !

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  8. I rode in one in the early 70s during an AFJROTC field trip. IIRC, they were doing some checkout flights based in Hill AFB and all the surrounding schools with junior ROTC programs were offered a ride-along opportunity. It was indeed LOUD.

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  9. The aluminum overcast

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  10. There was one on the ramp approaching an old O-1 Bird Dog observation plane, and taxiing rather closely to it.

    When the O-1 pilot queried the tower on the freq about what the Globemaster's intentions were, the C-124 pilot opened the forward clamshell doors and called on the channel "I'm going to eat you!"

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    1. The "good ol' days" when you could do that and not lose your wings. Even 40 years ago if you didn't lose your wings you would be busted back to co-pilot and grounded for a while to think about it.

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  11. As an old man, my memory isn't quite as exact as I wish it were, but as a soldier in my beloved United States Army, I probably flew on one of the last United States Air Force Douglas C-124 "Globemaster" flights in approximately 1973?

    It was sometime either during, or soon after, my two (02) years (i.e., I twice volunteered to extend my normal one year Tour of Duty) of serving in the old Republic of Viet Nam as a Specialist, E-4, Multi-Channel Communications Repairman (MOS 31L20) in Headquarters Company, 501st Signal Battalion (Airmobile), 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile).

    I was probably on leave and taking "military hops" from the West Coast to visit my folks in North Carolina.

    I flew on a C-124 from McChord Air Force Base, in Tacoma, Washington (i.e., years previously, I'd had my Basic Combat Training and my RVN training at adjacent Fort Lewis) to Kelly Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas, with a stop en route at Gray Army Air Field at Fort Hood, Texas to unload two (02) United States Army Bell UH-1 "Iroquois" helicopters.

    I think it might have been Winter, because it was cold, and I slept curled up under blankets.

    I was the only passenger on that flight, and it was the only time I ever flew on a C-124, and purely because of nostalgia (i.e., I sensed the United States Air Force Douglas C-124 "Globemaster" was being terminated from service), I dearly loved that rare experience!

    It was also nostalgic because when I was an "Army brat", our family had gone to Hill Air Force Base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to see the static displays on Armed Forces Day, and I explored the interior of a parked United States Air Force Douglas C-124 "Globemaster", and as I did so, I stood at the open window overlooking the wing, which looked like it must have been a mile long.

    Ah, the memories!

    The C-124 will always have a special regard within my old military heart!

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