Navigating the C-124 Globemaster : in the cockpit of America's first strategic heavy-lift aircraft / Billy D. Higgins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Higgins, Billy D., 1938- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

C-124 (Transport plane)--History--20th century.

C-124 (Transport plane).

Flight navigators, Military--United States--Biography.

Flight navigators, Military.

Transport planes--United States--History--20th century.

Transport planes.

Aeronautics, Military--United States--History--20th century.

Aeronautics, Military.

Cold War--Personal narratives, American.

Cold War.

Higgins, Billy D., 1938-.

Higgins, Billy D.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (220 pages)

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2019]

Summary:

""The C-124 Globemaster-a U.S. military heavy-lift transport in service 1950 through 1974-barreling down a runway was an awesome sight. The aircraft's four 3800 hp piston engines (the largest ever mass-produced), mounted on its 174-foot wingspan, could carry a 69,000-pound payload of tanks, artillery or other cargo, or 200 fully equipped troops, at more than 300 mph. The flight crew, perched three stories above the landing gears in an unpressurized cockpit, relied, like Magellan, on celestial fixes to navigate over oceans. With a world-wide mission delivering troops and materials to such destinations as the Congo, Vietnam, Thule, Greenland and Antarctica, the Globemaster lived up to its name and was foundational to what Time magazine publisher Henry Luce termed the "American Century." Drawing on coast-to-coast visits to archives, Air Force bases, libraries and accident sites, and his own recollections as a navigator, the author details Cold War confrontations and consequent strategies that emerged after Douglas Aircraft Company delivered the first C-124A to the Military Air Transport Service in 1949."-Provided by publisher."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth...": rolling takeoffs

"Rush by air": building an aluminum overcast

"Dancing with stars": undergraduate Navigator training

"I cast my vote for independence": the Cold War and Civil Wars

"Off We Go": over the oceans

"The Wild Blue yonder": from Attu to Zaire

"The right stuff": Crewing old shaky

"Fate is the Hunter": mountains and thunderstorms

"Sorry 'bout that": Korea and Vietnam

"The American Century": epilogue

Appendix: C-124 Globemaster Accidents Involving Loss of Life and/or Loss of Airplane.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4766-3711-3