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C5M - Super Galaxy
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May 26, 2022 17:06:18   #
kmpankopf Loc: Mid-Michigan; SW Pennsylvania
 
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Air Show was to see FRED fly again.
The show did not disappoint.

I have a somewhat long history with FRED. FRED was my office from 1983 to 1992.

Many aircraft have names, the C5 has always been FRED.

Stories and photo information

C5M Low Pass by Kurt Pankopf


C5M Left Bank


C5M (Far) Approach


C5M Approach


Touchdown at Dover

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May 26, 2022 19:34:05   #
kpmac Loc: Ragley, La
 
A beautiful aircraft and you captured it quite well.

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May 26, 2022 19:55:19   #
rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
 
Nice photos of a great aircraft.

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May 26, 2022 23:45:35   #
Paul B. Loc: North Carolina
 
Nice shots👍

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May 27, 2022 05:54:47   #
J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio
 
kmpankopf wrote:
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Air Show was to see FRED fly again.
The show did not disappoint.

I have a somewhat long history with FRED. FRED was my office from 1983 to 1992.

Many aircraft have names, the C5 has always been FRED.

Stories and photo information

C5M Low Pass by Kurt Pankopf


C5M Left Bank


C5M (Far) Approach


C5M Approach


Touchdown at Dover
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Ai... (show quote)



Reply
May 27, 2022 07:31:56   #
nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL
 

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May 27, 2022 08:08:33   #
davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel
 
kmpankopf wrote:
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Air Show was to see FRED fly again.
The show did not disappoint.

I have a somewhat long history with FRED. FRED was my office from 1983 to 1992.

Many aircraft have names, the C5 has always been FRED.

Stories and photo information

C5M Low Pass by Kurt Pankopf


C5M Left Bank


C5M (Far) Approach


C5M Approach


Touchdown at Dover
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Ai... (show quote)


Fred's development is a story unto itself. When it began its career I was a student at The University of Dayton. The airplane was in its flight testing phase at Wright-Pat AFB. The primary runway at WPAFB puts UD's campus directly under the flight paths of arriving or departing A/C. The C-5 looked like 28 piss-ants (the landing gear) trying to carry a loaf of bread (the fuselage). It's TOO big to fly!!! But USAF stuck with it and this A/C has become much more than it was originally meant to be. The landing gear was a design mess. The gear is designed to tilt, level, squat, and turn to track the runway while the plane was in a definite crab on final. If memory serves me it was 1972 when Fred was flying everywhere it went with his wheels down and pinned the entire trip. Eventually, the engineers and designers were able to work out the bugs and make the plane a true mission workhorse. It currently employs a glass cockpit and is a true "Million" pound lifter. In October of 1973 we were involved with saving the nation of Israel from the Arab invasion. USAF put an exercise into work that had us flying 24/8 hrs. shifts from Loges AFB, Azores into Tel Aviv and back. Most crews spent anywhere from 6-10 hrs. sitting on the ground in Tel Aviv waiting to be unloaded, and moving their A/C as the line progressed to the depot. Technically we were flying over no other country's airspace but I knew crews that were over N. Africa trying to evade thunderstorms. I also knew of crews reporting flight security provided by the Syrian AF as they wanted NO part of radicals downing one of our C-141s or C-5s. Operation "Night Reach" or "Operation Nickel-Grass" was the largest airlift operation ever flown! We liked to think we save the nation of Israel from extinction, as many world leaders claimed. Our unit, the 30th MAS at McGuire AFB, N.J. received a hand-signed letter of thanx from Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel. Reportedly, every unit that participated in this operation received a similar letter. We were expected to maintain our silence about this operation but my late grandmother was the person who alerted my family of our work. She was an avid reader of National Geographic magazine. The next summer (1974) she read a very detailed story about the entire operation in Natgeo. That article had information i was unaware of.

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May 27, 2022 08:38:44   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
Nice set of photos; the touchdown is my favorite.

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May 27, 2022 09:09:54   #
kmpankopf Loc: Mid-Michigan; SW Pennsylvania
 
davidrb wrote:
Fred's development is a story unto itself. When it began its career I was a student at The University of Dayton. The airplane was in its flight testing phase at Wright-Pat AFB. The primary runway at WPAFB puts UD's campus directly under the flight paths of arriving or departing A/C. The C-5 looked like 28 piss-ants (the landing gear) trying to carry a loaf of bread (the fuselage). It's TOO big to fly!!! But USAF stuck with it and this A/C has become much more than it was originally meant to be. The landing gear was a design mess. The gear is designed to tilt, level, squat, and turn to track the runway while the plane was in a definite crab on final. If memory serves me it was 1972 when Fred was flying everywhere it went with his wheels down and pinned the entire trip. Eventually, the engineers and designers were able to work out the bugs and make the plane a true mission workhorse. It currently employs a glass cockpit and is a true "Million" pound lifter. In October of 1973 we were involved with saving the nation of Israel from the Arab invasion. USAF put an exercise into work that had us flying 24/8 hrs. shifts from Loges AFB, Azores into Tel Aviv and back. Most crews spent anywhere from 6-10 hrs. sitting on the ground in Tel Aviv waiting to be unloaded, and moving their A/C as the line progressed to the depot. Technically we were flying over no other country's airspace but I knew crews that were over N. Africa trying to evade thunderstorms. I also knew of crews reporting flight security provided by the Syrian AF as they wanted NO part of radicals downing one of our C-141s or C-5s. Operation "Night Reach" or "Operation Nickel-Grass" was the largest airlift operation ever flown! We liked to think we save the nation of Israel from extinction, as many world leaders claimed. Our unit, the 30th MAS at McGuire AFB, N.J. received a hand-signed letter of thanx from Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel. Reportedly, every unit that participated in this operation received a similar letter. We were expected to maintain our silence about this operation but my late grandmother was the person who alerted my family of our work. She was an avid reader of National Geographic magazine. The next summer (1974) she read a very detailed story about the entire operation in Natgeo. That article had information i was unaware of.
Fred's development is a story unto itself. When i... (show quote)


Thanks for the story! Always happy to see new information that doesn't appear in Wikipedia. Thanks for your service and have a great weekend.

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May 27, 2022 09:36:44   #
Paul Best. Loc: California desert
 
FRED became the common nickname for the C-5. It stands for F-----g Ridiculous Economic Disaster. They bragged about being able to lift 800,000 pounds originally. The very next day Boeing loaded up a 747 and made the million pound take-off and it was just a routine training flight. The joke at the time was that the USAF was going to paint the C-5 yellow--like all the other ground equipment.

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May 27, 2022 10:56:29   #
Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV
 
I have heard that it has the highest ratio of Maintenance Man Hours to Flight Hours than any other Aircraft in the Military. Makes it very expensive to fly. But still a cool Aircraft!

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May 27, 2022 11:03:18   #
Paul Best. Loc: California desert
 
You are right Chief, it was truly a maintenance nightmare. They could kneel down and load the thing up, then it could not get back up from the kneeling position. Here is a quick blurb from Google--The C-5 had the highest operating cost of any weapon system, and the trend was rising in tariff rates and reliability and maintainability costs for the C-5. The maintenance man hour per flying hour illustrates the difficulties in the C-5 force. The A models consumed 46.0 maintenance man hours per flying hour, 16.7 for the B model (CY96 data).

Reply
May 27, 2022 11:51:46   #
mausernut01 Loc: Columbus Montana
 
Paul Best. wrote:
You are right Chief, it was truly a maintenance nightmare. They could kneel down and load the thing up, then it could not get back up from the kneeling position. Here is a quick blurb from Google--The C-5 had the highest operating cost of any weapon system, and the trend was rising in tariff rates and reliability and maintainability costs for the C-5. The maintenance man hour per flying hour illustrates the difficulties in the C-5 force. The A models consumed 46.0 maintenance man hours per flying hour, 16.7 for the B model (CY96 data).
You are right Chief, it was truly a maintenance ni... (show quote)


The first one of those I saw was in 1970 while stationed at Dover. I worked on the flightline on C-133's (ugh) and somebody yelled out , "there's a C-5 coming in". Of course we all got up on top or our airplanes and watched it land. What a monster!! If I remember right, that when it took off later, they had to close the highway behind the end of the runway due to the jet blast blowing across the highway.
What a beast!

Ken

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May 27, 2022 12:08:44   #
singleshot Loc: Georgia
 
kmpankopf wrote:
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Air Show was to see FRED fly again.
The show did not disappoint.

I have a somewhat long history with FRED. FRED was my office from 1983 to 1992.

Many aircraft have names, the C5 has always been FRED.

Stories and photo information

C5M Low Pass by Kurt Pankopf


C5M Left Bank


C5M (Far) Approach


C5M Approach


Touchdown at Dover
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Ai... (show quote)


Great photos of a beautiful lady. Most of my hours were logged in the Kerosine Can (KC-97). Don't know about you but I sorely miss those years.

Reply
May 27, 2022 12:34:18   #
lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle
 
kmpankopf wrote:
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Air Show was to see FRED fly again.
The show did not disappoint.

I have a somewhat long history with FRED. FRED was my office from 1983 to 1992.

Many aircraft have names, the C5 has always been FRED.

Stories and photo information

C5M Low Pass by Kurt Pankopf


C5M Left Bank


C5M (Far) Approach


C5M Approach


Touchdown at Dover
One of my excuses to travel to Dover to see the Ai... (show quote)


WOW! Excellent tack sharp photos. Outstanding!

Reply
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