American Military Transport Aircraft Since 1925

489 Pages·2013·12.96 MB·English

by  E.R. Johnson

American Military
Transport Aircraft
Since 1925
ALSO BY E.R. JOHNSON
AND FROM MCFARLAND
American Attack Aircraft Since 1926
(2008; paperback 2012)
United States Naval Aviation, 1919–1941: Aircraft,
Airships and Ships Between the Wars (2011)
American Flying Boats and Amphibious
Aircraft: An Illustrated History (2010)
American Military
Transport Aircraft
Since 1925
E.R. J
OHNSON
Drawings by Lloyd S. Jones
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
All photographs are courtesy David W. Ostrowski
unless otherwise noted.
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Johnson, E.R., 1948–
American military transport aircraft since 1925 /
E.R. Johnson ; drawings by Lloyd S. Jones.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-6269-8
softcover : acid free paper
1. Transport planes—United States. 2. Airplanes,
Military—United States. 3. Airlift, Military—United States—
History. I. Title. II. Jones, Lloyd S.
UG1242.T7J65 2013 623.74'650973—dc23 2013005257
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
Text © 2013 E.R. Johnson. Drawings © 2013 Lloyd S. Jones. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the p ublisher.
On the cover: (top) front-view of the Boeing (McDonnell Douglas)
C-17A Globemaster III; (center) side-view a of Douglas C-47A of
the 80th Troop Carrier Squadron; (bottom left) plan-view of the Douglas C-1;
(bottom right) plan-view of the Lockheed C-130H Hercules
(Illustrations by Lloyd S. Jones)
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To two good friends and former Curtiss C-46 Commando pilots
who now reside in Mountain Home, Arkansas:
First Lieutenant Edward D. Michalek,
USAFR, 437th Troop Carrier Wing, 315th Air Division,
Tactical Air Command, Brady Air Base,
Fukuoka, Japan, Korean War, 1950–1952,
and
First Lieutenant Roy E. Danuser,
USAAF, 1337th Base Unit, 29th Transport Group, India-China Division,
Air Transport Command, Sookerating Airfield,
Assam, India, World War II, 1944–1945.
Acknowledgments
Bringing this book from a rough idea to a complete manuscript involved
a lot of help from a lot of people.
I am especially indebted to Lloyd S. Jones and David W. Ostrowski. In
addition to producing all of the three-view drawings, Lloyd gave me the orig-
inal idea for the book and provided valuable constructive input while it was
being organized and written; and Dave spent an immense number of hours
identifying, reproducing and formatting the vast majority of the photographic
images that appear in the book.
I extend heartfelt appreciation to all of the researchers who furnish the
extensive amount of data available online at the Aerofiles website (http//: aero
files.c om), the U.S. Air Force Museum website (http://www.nationalm useum.
af.m il/research/index.asp), the Naval Aviation History Office website (http://
www. history.navy.mil/branches/nhcorg4.htm), and of course, Wikipedia
(http://e n.wikipedia.org). Likewise, I applaud the unselfish efforts of Joseph
F. Baugher (http://www.joebaugher. com), who continues to build his internet
archive of free information about American military aircraft. I personally thank
him for his relentless work in creating tables that list the serial number records
of every U.S. military aircraft procured since 1908.
For providing specific photographic images, I also offer my thanks to
Mark Nankvil, Daniel Compton, Andrew Ozanne, Olivier Gregoire, Leandro
Rocha, Ralf Manteufel, Ondˇrej Smrtka, Peter Seemann, Colin T. Ebert, Erick
Stamm, and Kenny Williamson.
vi
Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction: The Emergence of American Military Airlift 3
Series I—1925 to 1962
A. USAAC, USAAF, USAF, and U.S. Army Aircraft 21
B. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Aircraft 243
Series II—1962 to Present 313
Series III—Utility and Miscellaneous Transports Since 1962 401
Appendix: Military Transport Aircraft and Unit Designations,
Nomenclature and Abbreviations
1. Transport Aircraft 457
2. Air Transport Units 460
Glossary 463
Bibliography 469
Index 473
vii
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Preface
Without airlift support, the modern American military machine would come to a screeching
halt. Since World War II, beginning with the Cold War and continuing with the War on Ter-
rorism up to present day, the U.S. armed forces have come to increasingly rely upon airlift for
mobility. The power to rapidly move and thereafter support a military operation, anywhere at
any time, has become an indispensable element of American defense strategy. This work is
intended to provide the reader with a concise historical survey, including technical specifications,
drawings, and photographs, of the various types of fixed-wing military aircraft used over an 86-
year period to carry out the airlift mission.
For purposes of organization, the book is divided into three chronological segments: Series
I—1925 to 1962, further sub-divided by Part A, USAAC, USAAF, USAF, and U.S. Army Air-
craft, and Part B, USN, USMC, and USCG Aircraft; Series II—1962 to Present; and Series
III—Utility and Miscellaneous Transports Since 1962. The main three aircraft series are preceded
by a historical overview “The Emergence of American Military Airlift,” which summarizes how
the various services have organized and developed their respective airlift missions from earliest
times up to present. In standard military terminology, these missions typically fall into the fol-
lowing broad categories:
Strategic Airlift. Variously referred to as “long-range logistical support,” strategic airlift
pertains to employment of aircraft having the ability—in terms of range and payload—to move
weapons, military materiel, and/or personnel from base to base over transcontinental and
transoceanic distances.
Since World War II, the design of aircraft specialized for the strategic airlift role has produced
a succession of airframes large enough to accommodate outsized cargos such as heavy engineering
equipment, large vehicles and tanks, artillery, aircraft components, troop-carrying helicopters,
and missile systems (e.g., Boeing C-97, Douglas C-124 and C-133, Lockheed C-141 and C-5,
and McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17).
Tactical Airlift. Known initially as “troop carrier” units, tactical airlift pertains to types of
aircraft designed to provide direct logistical support to military units within a theater of oper-
ations. Such aircraft generally have the ability to land and take off on short, unprepared airstrips
and can be configured to airdrop supplies and paratroopers. In recent times, tactical transports
have been subdivided between larger, “inter-theater” types (e.g., Fairchild C-119 and Lockheed
C-130), which operate between aerial ports and forward bases, and smaller, “intra-theater” types
(e.g., De Havilland C-7 and Short C-23), which can operate much closer to the forward edge
of the battle area (FEBA). Large helicopters like the Boeing CH-47 are also used in the intra-
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