BEHIND THE SCENES: The C-141 Starlifter: A Workhorse of a Plane
Recently, I was introduced to the Museum of Aviation’s C-141C. Learning the history of this plane gave me a whole new appreciation for the word “workhorse.”
The C-141 aircraft was a cargo and troop transport plane. It was also the world’s first jet powered airlifter. From 1963, when the US Air Force accepted the first C-141, until 2006 when the last C-141 was retired, the Starlifters logged more than 10 million hours. Best of all, the C-141 was Georgia born and raised. The aircraft was built by Lockheed-Georgia Company, and the logistics support responsibility was given to Robins Air Force Base.
After the C-141As were operational for a time, the Air Force realized that the aircraft could be expanded for greater use. The fuselage was “stretched” to add more than 23 feet, and aerial refueling capability also was added.
The plane could carry either 200 troops, 155 paratroopers, 103 litters and 14 seats or 68,725 pounds of cargo. I read that the C-141 projected our military might, helped feed the hungry, helped victims recover from disaster and brought home the dead and wounded. The aircraft and crew also carried everything in between, but it was the bodies of our servicemen that struck the biggest chord.
Alline Kent, a Sun News correspondent, wrote an article recently about her father, who was a C-141 pilot and served during the Vietnam War. Her story put a human side to the aircraft and the many missions that were carried out during that time. She wrote, “My father went into great detail about the care and concern that was taken in bringing home servicemen that made the ultimate sacrifice. Heads pointed toward the front, never stack them.”
Tony Faircloth, the Museum of Aviation’s aircraft restoration specialist, knows about the varied types of missions of the plane, as well. Tony was a crew chief for the C-141 in Oklahoma, Hawaii and then Robins. For 20 years he worked on the aircraft and saw first hand what came and went in the plane.
In a recent interview, Tony talked about the special relationship he had with the plane. He liked the fact that Robins was associated with the C-141 since day one. He also talked about all the people who benefited from the cargo deliveries over the years. The C-141 supported scientists and researchers in Antarctica, even carrying penguins on some flights. It was, however, the medevac operations that were the most personal for him. He witnessed not only sick or wounded soldiers, but also civilians, some of whom were babies in incubators.
The C-141 had quite a history. Of course there were the thousands of supply missions to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. In 1973, it was the C-141, called the Hanoi Taxi, that carried our first POWs out of Vietnam. Other C-141s carried orphans, Americans, and Vietnamese out of the country as it fell to the Communists. In May 1984, a C-141 carried the remains of the Unknown Soldier from Vietnam for interment in Arlington National Cemetery. There were 7,000 support missions in Operation Desert Storm. In 2002, it was the C-141 that delivered the first Taliban and al-Qaida detainees to Guantanamo Bay. In 2003, the aircraft evacuated the first wounded out of Iraq as Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Throughout the C-141’s 43-year history, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center was there to maintain and update the aircraft. In 2003, the last C-141 to go through programmed depot maintenance left the base. It was called “Caboose” since it was the last one. Anyone associated with the plane was able to sign the aircraft.
That same C-141 flew back to Robins in 2005 to be preserved at the Museum of Aviation. Now our C-141C proudly sits among other great planes. It is being refreshed with a new coat of paint. Hopefully, one day it will be able to sit in a hangar of its own.
You can now see why this aircraft was called a workhorse. It did its job very well indeed.
Marilyn N. Windham, of Fort Valley, is a volunteer at the Museum of Aviation. Contact her at mnwindham@aol.com.
This story was originally published October 29, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "BEHIND THE SCENES: The C-141 Starlifter: A Workhorse of a Plane."