Last Flight Of The C133 Cargomaster

Here is a shot of her older sister, back when they were shiny and new, taken about 1958 from in my father’s days with the USAF

That is an absolutely awesome sound… What is it about some turbo’s that makes the spine tingle? Shame it will never be heard in the air again. :cool::(

Yeah, superb stuff

Saddens me, to see less & less old Four-engined props (both piston & turbo-prop’s) “swanning-around” as the years go by………

Like Wyvern says, fantastic & awesome sound from the old-Girl

Fascinating info, many thanks for sharing it. I’ve lost count of the number of times i have watched the clip of her last flight, just so i could hear that awesome spine tingling noise.. truly impressive.!

http://boeing377.googlepages.com/c133

comments/edits welcome.

Mark
[email]af6im@arrl.net[/email]

Mark
Thanks for that, just amazing.

Richard

C 133 Final Flight website

http://boeing377.googlepages.com/c133

comments/edits welcome.

Mark
[email]af6im@arrl.net[/email]

I remember these beasts crossing the South of England, using the airway Green One. They had come across the Atlantic and were heading to Germany I assume. The sound was incredible being audible for ages before the aircraft passed by, usually only nav lights visible or just the sound above the clouds. They would sometimes drop into Greenham Common where once a crew member walked over to the fence to talk, he explained that the bands around the foreward fuselage(visible in the posted pics) were strenghening straps placed to try to control the fuselage skin cracking. Several aircraft were lost to structural fatigue failure.

Richard

Thanks Paul, great photos by the way. Are there any plans to keep her ‘live’ and maybe taxi her every now and then. Would be a terrible shame if that unique sound died forever.!

here are some photos – great to see he in the air, but a shame it was the last flight.

the whole set is here

I have a question for you Cal – what is the significance of the AK licence plate at the base of the tail “FUZZY1” (I can’t remember if that was attached when I saw it in AK)

The unique C-133 sound wqas due to 18′ props with tip speeds nearly at Mach. In climb, it was 1.1 Mach, in cruise .97 Mach. So, the turbulence thrown off by the props promoted that unique sound. It also hammered on the fuselage, creating awful vibration on every aprt of the aircraft structure , leaidng to damage raning from minor (light bulb filaments) to major (skin cracks). It’s all in my book.

Cal Taylor

Thanks Cal, i had never heard one before but that clip of it landing for the final time left me very impressed. I just wish i had seen some of them when they visited the UK in the past, but nevertheless it has been promoted into my top 5 sounding aeroplanes.

Rob.:cool:

C-133 props

That is an absolutely awesome sound… What is it about some turbo’s that makes the spine tingle? Shame it will never be heard in the air again. :cool::(

The unique C-133 sound wqas due to 18′ props with tip speeds nearly at Mach. In climb, it was 1.1 Mach, in cruise .97 Mach. So, the turbulence thrown off by the props promoted that unique sound. It also hammered on the fuselage, creating awful vibration on every aprt of the aircraft structure , leaidng to damage raning from minor (light bulb filaments) to major (skin cracks). It’s all in my book.

Cal Taylor

Ah right so it wasn’t in USAF service.

Quite.
The fleet was retired circa 1970 when the C-5 became operational.
Interestingly, it was never used as a people hauler.
Only cargo and usually on trans-ocean flights. The main exception for that seems to have been the delivery of ICBMs to missile bases.
For years in the 60s, I lived at mid-west USAF bases and never saw one.

That is an absolutely awesome sound… What is it about some turbo’s that makes the spine tingle? Shame it will never be heard in the air again. :cool::(

Seems to be quite a bit of this triplex threading on obsolete very large aircraft!

More info on yet a 3rd thread about this flight:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=82372&highlight=Cargomaster

On the subject of Travis has anybody been in touch with them recently, I sent the museum there a email 3 weeks ago from work about paying them a visit in a couple of weeks time, to date I have not even had a reply.

Ah right so it wasn’t in USAF service.

What a beautiful noise and sight! Why did this particular C-133 stay in service for so long, did have a unique capability?

No, it (and a sister) were used in Alaska starting in the early 1970s (shortly after withdrawl from USAF service) to haul equipment for the Alaska oil pipeline. It has been written* that they could not get full FAA approval for operations so it could only be used for government chartered loads.

It’s sister was scrapped in Alaska a few years ago.

*McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920, Vol. 1. By Rene J. Francillon, Putnam, 1988. Pg 512

If recent owners/operators know differently, I’d like to know any corrections.

Hauling outsize loads in Alaska – when surplused from the military they would have been reasonable in price and offering a lot of capability.

What a beautiful noise and sight! Why did this particular C-133 stay in service for so long, did have a unique capability?

Could keep it on the same thread?:)

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=83909