Lockheed C-5 Galaxy - Strategic airlifter

The C-5 Galaxy is a large, military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It was designed to provide strategic heavy airlift over intercontinental distances and to carry outsize and oversize cargo. The C-5 Galaxy has been operated by the United States Air Force since 1969 and is one of the largest military aircraft in the world.

The C-5 has a distinctive high T-tail, 25 degree wing sweep, and four TF39 turbofan engines mounted on pylons beneath the wings. The C-5 is similar in layout to its smaller predecessor, the C-141 Starlifter. The C-5 has 12 internal wing tanks and is equipped for aerial refueling. It has both nose and aft doors for "drive-through" loading and unloading of cargo.
The C-5 features a cargo compartment 121 feet long, 13.5 feet high, and 19 feet wide (37 m by 4.1 m by 5.8 m), or just over 31,000 ft³ (880 m³). The compartment can accommodate up to 36 463L master pallets or a mix of palletized cargo and vehicles. The nose and aft doors open the full width and height of the cargo compartment to permit faster and easier loading. Ramps are full width at each end for loading double rows of vehicles. The volume of unusable space in a C-5's tail assembly (aft of the ramp) is larger than the available cargo space of a C-130 Hercules.

It has an upper deck seating area for 73 passengers. The passengers face the rear of the aircraft, rather than forward. Its take off and landing distances, at maximum gross weight, are 8,300 ft (2,530 m) and 4,900 ft (1,490 m) respectively. Its high flotation landing gear has 28 wheels to share the weight. The "kneeling" landing gear system permits lowering of the parked aircraft so the cargo floor is at truck-bed height to facilitate vehicle loading and unloading.
The Galaxy is capable of carrying nearly all of the Army's combat equipment, including bulky items such as the 74 ton M60A1 armored vehicle launched bridge (AVLB), from the United States to any location on the globe.

July 9, 1970 marked the C-5's first mission in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Through the rest of the war, C-5s were used to transport equipment and troops. Equipment included Army tanks, and various aircraft. C-5s also delivered weapons and supplies to Israel as part of Operation Nickel Grass in 1973.

In the early 1970s, the C-5 was considered for the role of Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to transport the Space Shuttle to Kennedy Space Center by NASA, but rejected in favor of the Boeing 747 due in part to the 747's low-wing design.

The C-5 is the largest aircraft to ever operate in the Antarctic. Williams Field near McMurdo Station is capable of handling C-5 aircraft and the first C-5 landed there in 1989.

131 aircraft were built

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• USA
• US
• Air
• Force
• Antonov
• An-124

[peepeevagi]

What's more frightening than a C-130 dropping troops?

A C-5 Dropping Troops and a tank.

For Christ's sake, it's a flying battalion!

[15thsquadron01]

These Fly by my house alot at Hickem Air Force Base!

[concoon43]

Leave June 15th for BMT. gonna be a load on the C-5. i can't wait.

[migkiller001]

Great vid....the sound of those GE TF-39s  powering-up is a sound like no other!