c-141 aircraft

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Our C-141B Starlifter, 64-0626, was the last C-141 stationed here at Dover AFB, being retired in February 1996.

C-141 Aircraft

The C-141 Starlifter was the workhorse of the Air Mobility Command from the 1970s to the early 2000s. The Starlifter met a wide range of airlift requirements with its ability to airlift combat forces over long distances, deliver those forces and their equipment by air, land or air, re-supply forces, and transport sick and Transported wounded from hostile territory to advanced medical facilities. institutions. ,

File:apollo 11 Mobile Quarantine Facility Unloaded From C 141.jpg

Introduced as a replacement for slower piston-engined cargo planes such as the C-124 Globemaster II, the C-141 was designed to requirements established in the 1960s and first flew in 1963. Production of the last 285 aircraft began in 1965: 284. Air Force and to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for use as an airborne observatory.

It turned out that the C-141 "broke in" before it was "thinned", meaning that it often had excess lift capacity that was lost because the cargo hold was overcrowded. To correct the perceived shortcomings of the original model and to utilize the C-141 to its fullest extent, the entire fleet of 270 C-141As in service was expanded to include the required amount of cargo. These modified aircraft were designated the C-141B. Additional fuselage sections were added forward and aft of the wings, lengthening the fuselage to 23 ft 4 in (7.11 m) and allowing for an increase of 103 wounded carriers, 13 standard pallets, 205 troops, 168 paratroopers or equivalent. on other loads. A hand canister was also added at that time for in-flight refueling. The conversion program ran between 1977 and 1982, with the first being delivered in December 1979. This expanded program was estimated to be equivalent to the purchase of 90 new aircraft in terms of increased capability.

The aircraft remained in service for nearly 40 years, until the USAF retired the C-141 on May 5, 2006, and replaced it with the C-17 Globemaster III. On August 23, 1963, President John F. Kennedy declared it "a great moment for our country" when he unveiled the original Lockheed C-141 Starlifter military transport aircraft by remote control from the White House. Ceremonially pressing a golden key in the nation's capital and allowing the plane to land in Marietta, Georgia, about 650 miles away, President Kennedy unveiled the first jet-powered aircraft and launched a versatile aircraft that helped make history. Of. In his 43 years of service.

In response to President Kennedy's order to develop a fully reactive military transport unit and cargo carrier, Lockheed built the Starlifter on time and on budget using specialized designs from its Marietta engineers. From 1965 to 2006, it served as the backbone of the US military's airlift and participated in every operation from Vietnam to Iraqi independence. The aircraft's speed proved invaluable during Vietnam, reducing the round-trip time between California and Saigon from 95 hours to 34, while its 93-foot cargo hold made it easy to offload some 70,000 pounds of cargo per hour.

Antarctic Photo Library

Equally impressive at carrying passengers, the Starlifter became known as the "Taxi of Hanoi" in 1973 after returning nearly 600 American prisoners of war to North Vietnam. The aircraft also played a key role in the rescue of American personnel and Vietnamese refugees during the 1975 Saigon Exodus, the evacuation of 78 wounded in the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut, and the transport of 39 hostages to freedom after 1985. . TWA hijacking in Egypt.

The Starlifter assisted in smaller military conflicts such as those in Grenada and Panama by airdropping troops and carrying heavy military equipment to and from battlefields. And a convoy of modified C-141Bs has successfully supported major operations in the Middle East, such as Operation Desert Shield, operating 24 hours a day and landing in Saudi Arabia at an astonishing rate of one every seven minutes.

In addition to high-performance military transport, StarLifter has flown humanitarian flights to nearly 70 countries around the world, including delivering fuel to Antarctica, medical shipments to Bosnia and safely transporting victims of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Its reach also extended into space, with NASA turning the C-141 into a flying astronomical research laboratory, allowing scientists to peer deep into space to study the heat emanating from stars, planets and other celestial objects. permission granted; observe rare events such as solar eclipses, comet tracts and supernova explosions; And make such amazing discoveries as the existence of rings around the planet Uranus. It's a fine legacy for the "workhorse" of the US Air Force's Air Mobility Command for more than four decades.

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