In the fall of 1974, the Space and Missile Systems Organization conducted an air-launched ballistic missile test. The Minuteman ICBM weighed 86,000 pounds, and the only aircraft up to the task was the recently unveiled Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.
The immense military transport aircraft conveyed the gigantic mine and dropped it from 20,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, proving the feasibility of launching an intercontinental ballistic missile from the air.
Although it was first conceived in the 1960s, the massive piece of engineering continues to serve in the Air Force and has taken part in several unique missions, including transporting Marine One to any place the president travels within the United States or overseas.
The unusually sizable aircraft also played a pivotal role in the development of the first operational aircraft to be designed with stealth technology, a mission so secretive that the C-5 could only fly at night to transport each of the airframes…
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it is not a secret airplane i have been on them in airshows and even the cockpit
Where are the plans for the next generation of these type of planes ?
Why does this seem so familiar? Are you recycling videos with new titles?
Nothing like a night mission.
I have always wanted to convert a 747 model kit to the Cargo plane concept. Douglas also had a concept for the heavy lift plate as well (if memory served me correct )
In 1973 I was a member of an 8 or 9 man industry advisory panel on structural integrity (ASIP), which went to San Antonio (SAAMA) to tour the new C-5 Galaxy, which was having early metal fatigue problems. I was an engineering manager at Boeing, with extensive experience on the B-47 and B-52. It was an awesome plane. I am now 96, and it was a memorable trip.
Actually the government didn't "offer loans" it guaranteed non-governmental loans which were all paid in full. It may seem like a minor difference but not since the loans actually cost the government nothing. Only matters if accuracy counts. People used to sit at the end of the runway in beach chairs to watch the C5s land and take off in Burbank presumably without knowing what they were carrying.
Great content…please forgive the Troll like comment. No need for click bait title. The story of the C-5 speaks for itself.
First solid video in a while where the footage isn't just random shots of aircraft 75% of the time
That size of that beast makes the refueling tanker look tiny….. incredible engineering
⭐🙂👍
Great video but… no C5 video is complete without the sounds of the tf39!
This whole program was apolitical night mare….The Boeing design was clearly the better design but Mc Namara hated Boeing and said he would never give Boeing the contract, the Lockheed design did not meet design requirement and the plane was lightened and why the wings and fuselage were cracking. As soon as Boeing built the 747 they took the 747 and loaded it beyond the capacity of the C5A and flew it to 25,000 ft just to rub it in the face !!!! and the rest is history…
11:30 Successive Orstrayan governments have got far too cozy with Mercan Military Madness, US Bases Out Now, Release Julian Assange, Disband AUKUS; Shame Anthony Albanese, Julie Wong and ALP; not a shadow of the Gough Whitlam government that cancelled conscription and took us out of Vietnam
I live near enough to Dover AFB. They have a retired C5 that was I believe used for this project and also part of one of the missiles on display at their museum. Museum covers a lot more than just that subject, well worth the trip.
"Limited to crew endurance" must include variables such as food/water, on-board waste capacity etc
Should do a report on the future , it is going to be used to deploy racks of Cruise missiles and the like in air dropped inverted with parachute missiles drop deployed from the rack. I dont know maybe Dark Tech? Pretty Beast either way! I think it also applies to C-130's
I was at Vandenberg when this test occurred. We heard about it the next day, but not all the details. I built the reentry vehicles for the Minuteman III. Later in my career, I was assigned to a wing that replaced our C-141s with the C-5A. An interesting airplane, but the C-141 Starlifter is still my favorite.
I was sitting with my sister down town Clinton, Oklahoma one night when one of these C5A planes loaded with the ICBM crashed at our local airport. The misread the airports and missed Clinton Sherman airport. The crash and subsequent explosion created a 5 mph breeze in town approximately 4 miles away. The military spent several weeks blowing up and gathering material and hauling it away.
so all of your videos are just basically breathless naration over random stock footage … does this give you a hard on?
Could Lob Giant 86,000-Pound Missiles, How? Uses a slingshot?
I'm an Army veteran. I took a C5 to Iraq for my second tour in 2005. Passengers sit on top, above cargo, facing backwards.
As always Nicely Presented and complete. A true pleasure to watch, listen to and learn about our venerable history in the skies.
Well done and a viewer for as long as you produce them!!!
To The Point”
Mario
I changed the doors on both c models in the 90’s as well as worked the gear and flight controls. They couldn’t support the parts needs of the aircraft so we constantly had to tear apart a plane to support the others and then rebuild it and start over with a new one to steal from. The needs of just the wheels and tires were at times a day and night operation. I was never able to know how they scheduled all that but it blew my mind that we kept most of them flying most of the time. It was not just big on its own, physically. The whole program to keep it flying was a huge effort. Lots of amazing people working really hard to keep it going all day and night for decades.
Three C-5's on ramp at Clark AB. One was broke, 2nd. supplied parts fix other ones on ramp. Third was delivering parts to fix other two. Then it broke. During embassy attack in Iran. Reagan saved C-5
Gotta respect that the C5 Galaxy cargo bay is longer than the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers. Yes, Wilbur and Orville could've completed their first flight within the space of a C5s cargo bay.
That's insanity!
8:42 – C-17s
What an absolute U N I T
In recent months it is sort of fashionable to mock Russian military equipment for being old yet the US still runs and flies an actual "living museum" of units… like this from 1963, the B-52 from the 1950s, all of the F planes that are from 1974 to 1986 or the Abrhams whose design and planning began in 1968…
86000 pounds? That's cheap.
What if you put decked out a C5 Galaxy with AC-10 firepower.. and bombs.. and troops .. and a tank
Some of, no, most of the comments on this one are fascinating.
It’s lovely to read the recounting of you amazing contributors. 🙏
I myself worked in the Electro Optical business for almost 40 yrs until I was recently retired through ill health. I’m proud to have worked on and delivered into the LAIRCM Counter Measure System which has been used on the craft.
As a kid, I lived about 15 mi north of Travis AFB (mentioned in the vid). C-5s would run touch-and-goes, and the northern end of their flight path was directly overhead. We'd see them track that circle for hours. They are so big, it almost looks like they're standing still.
Our next-door neighbor was a C-5 pilot, and he took my Cub Scout den on a tour at Travis once. Approx 1976-'77. We got to fly the C-5 sim. When it was my turn, I got a little excited: I pulled up too fast and struck the tail! As a 10-ish-yr old, that was a scary moment. BEST video game I ever played!
Give the crew enough “go” pills and plane can fly for days.
You should have shown the engine run up test that the engine ripped itself from the wing….
I worked on the c5 in the airforce, I miss it and don't miss it lol.
280,001 lbs?
Don’t miss going out when a c5 heavy came in and had to go out and put the fans on them
How about backing this up with the plane that got destroyed in russia and the differences I think it was an antenope
Growing up in this erra, all the various specs blurted out were all classified & interior & especially cabin pics were nonexistent for the general public
Funny…almost adequate… Boeing should have had the contract…cheap is, as cheap is..
The C-5 would land often in Waco while Bush was in office. Roll out the presidential carriage. I was in college there.
Air Mobility Command: sorry but we only released 3 seats for Space A.
Military Airlift Command: We’re going to weaponize our C-5 fleet and end WW3.
The 747 was way more successful than the C5. The number of miles and millions of tons serviced by a 747 will never be approached by another aircraft.
Even so, more over….
Should have used Thunderbird 2!