#starlifter

[nocternalrandomness]

Cold War Air Mobility

[themissingmango]

[chaos-hub]

Plane of the week number 4, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III

Thr Globemaster 3, one of the greatest cargo planes of all time.

Capable of carrying over 170,000 lbs (77,000 kg) of cargo, it's a very powerful plane.

The Globemaster 3 was introduced to the Air Force in July of 1993, and replaced the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter.

A C-141B in flight (Credit; wikipedia)

A C-17 in flight (Credit; wikipedia)

[todaysdocument]

A U.S. Air Force C-141B Starlifter in flight over the Grand Canyon, April 18, 1998. 

Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense

Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files

Image description: A C-141B airplane, viewed from above and in front. It is flying over the Grand Canyon, which is sand-colored, dark green, and white.

[spockvarietyhour]

C-141 Starlifter in Barbados, 1983

[projecthabu]

     During early Starlifter operations it became apparent that the aircraft should be able to contain more volume while staying within weight and balance requirements. Lockheed began stretching the C-141A, grafting fuselage segments forward and aft of the wing, converting them to C-141B models. You can clearly see one such “fuselage plug” section in my final photo in the set. YC-141B 66-0186 was the first to achieve such treatment. She became an instrumented test vehicle, proving her design in the skies over Edwards Air Force Base, California.

     In 1996, she returned home for retirement. The Starlifters were all born at Air Force Plant 6 in Marietta, Georgia, where she sat without wings for many years until “The Aviation Wing” museum acquired the historic prototype. They towed her to a museum airpark on Plant 6 and replaced the wings. Her restoration continues within eyeshot of the Lockheed plant that she rolled out of in 1966.

[supplyside]

C-141 Starlifter

[vbeserk]

Photo Series #17

This is a veteran from the Vietnam War and the predecessor of the C-17 Globemaster III, this is the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter.

Introduced in 1965, the Starlifter is a military strategic airlifter intended to replace the older and slower prop cargo planes such as the C-124 Globemaster II and C-133 Cargomaster.

The C-141 has a cargo hold big enough to carry a complete LGM-30 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic missile (ICBM) and has the ability to deploy paratroopers through side doors close to the rear ramp.

After more than 40 years of service the last C-141 was retired in 2006 and the role was taken over by the brand new Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.

That’s it for this photo series, this one came out a bit late and also a bit short because i’m buried with work from my university but things should come back to normal on sunday which is the day of the next photo series. If you want to send any suggestions, i’ll be more than happy to make a photo series about it!

Have a great day, folks!

(Most of the pictures are in high resolution, so you can use it as wallpaper)