I recently talked with with folks at the Evergreen Aircraft musuem regarding aquisition of a new exibit. They are interested in adding to the number of their planes. I would like to suggest they investigate the availability of one of the C-133 Cargomasters parked at the Mohave airport. Does anyone know how difficult it would be to transport one of those? Lee


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Yeah Lee, a lot. To transport something that big would involve special transport along public highways with permission from CalTrans here in California and probably the Oregon state highway department, police agencies and the lot. Also, the aircraft must be dismantled prior to transporting. It's a lot of work, a lot of planning and a lot of money, But of course Evergreen knows all about this as a result of moving the Hughes H-2 Hurcules from Long Beach, California to their museum in Oregon.

Glad you found the new site.

Doug


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Evergreen took the Hughes Flying Boat up to Oregon by ocean barge. I saw it as it passed off the San Francisco coast. I heard that they originally investigated flying it up, but could not verify the structural integrity of this wood laminate aircraft. Once Hughes stopped maintining it in a low humidity hanger, the wood started to absorb moisture. No obvous major rot was found, but there were no relaible ways to non destructively test the critical structures.
Believe it or not the US Navy briefly looked into "flying" the Hughes plane in the early 80s. They wanted to learn more about large ground effect acft like the Russians were building. The Navy concluded that it was economically impractical to use the Hughes plane, too many unknowns about structure and flight characteristics.

Does the C 133 at Anchorage fly any more? I read somewhere that it can only fly state contract cargo, something to do with a state exemption from FAA regs. Does this make sense? I wonder how the owner can afford to keep his one flyable (Anchorage AK)and two spares ships (Mojave CA) if the flyable one has such infrequent use? Parking fees at Anchorage are HIGH, probably low at Mojave.

The C-133 at PANC is still airworthy, although last time I checked, it needed some prop and powerplant work. It flew in 1996 last on mining contracts. Currently, it is only allowed to fly with permission from the DoD. If the ANWR contract in Alaska goes through, the government might use it again. Most unlikely though...

Since I live near the Evergreen Airventure Museum, I would be delighted if they were to aquire a C-133. However as I read the accident reports, I noted they seemed to be plagued with cracks. One example was being flown with an existing 11 inch crack over the forward cargo door. It ripped open in flight to about 17 feet and the plane crashed. I believe about that time that the rest were grounded. A former crew member that I talked with mentioned the cracks and told me the fix had been to rivet doublers in place. Apart from the planes already mentioned, there is one possably two more located near Tucson. If one of the planes could be made available, it might be possable to obtain a ferry permit. Evergreen already has a C-130 display. What a contrast to park a C-133 alongside.
Lee

At the big skydive event in August 2002 at the old Chanute AFB in Rantoul Illinois, we had a C 130A hauling jumpers and then parking in between loads near the Chanute museum's GIANT C 133. The 133 looked like it could carry the 130 if you could somehow fold the Herc's wings back. The 133 had some damage near the tail on the left side, badly wrinkled skin, hard to figure out if it was from a ground accident after it became a display or ?? in flight stress?? The 133 had the "hoops" encircling the forward fuselage to stop cracking and tearing. Do these hoops distinguish the B from the A model??

From what I was told, the hoops were a field fix and weren't peculuar to A or B. At a certain point they(C-133s) recieved rear clam shells to accomodate longer cargo Thor or Atlas rockets. The hp was nudged from 6,000 to 7,500 somewhere along the way. One other thing I was told that I found interesting was that the three bladed props were 23ft. in dia. and tended to vibrate. By contrast, the modern AN-70 is able to absorb 14,000hp per engine using 14 foot dia. props.
Lee

I'm writing a book about the C-133. The website is http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/c133bcargomaster/home.html. Other comments: The Alaska C-133A, N199AB, flew for 30 minutes 29 Aug 02. First itme since 1999, as far as I know. Owner is Cargomaster Corp. The airplane will never get an FAA Certificate of Airworthiness, due to severe stress corrosion during its USAF service life.

It can only fly as a "government aircraft." That means that a government agency (DOD, Alaska, etc), jumps through some hoops to arrange the flight and takes all liability. It probably won't fly for ANWR, based upon FAA's decision in 1975 to prohibit hauling pipe for the AK pipeline.

The two Mojave airplanes are parts bins only and badly battered. All Tucson airplanes have been scrapped except 90527 at Pima Museum.

The belly bands were applied in the field, as a short term fix after the Feb 1970 crash. A 17" crack propagated in flight, the skin peeled off into #3 and the airplane broke up over NW Nebraska at 18,000'. All C-133s were retired by Aug 1971.

All airframes had severe stress corrosion. THe 18' props (not 23') had supersonic tip speeds at power settings of 98% or greater. The C-133 always had severe vibration and the props were maintenance hogs from the earliest days.

I have 1,800 hours as a C-133 nav. A lot of us would really like to see N199AB make a one-time flight to Travis AFB, to go into the Museum there. C-133s were based there and at DOver, DE.

I like steam locomotives as well as big props. There must be others who share an interest in both as several times while on steam train rides I have run into people, who having seen my t shirt with a Connie on it, start talking propliners. Once, a couple of years ago, a fellow steam railfan asked me if I had ever heard of a C 133. I answered that I had and he proceeded to tell me how he fortuitously flew a couple of hours in the right seat of Carlsson's Anchorage based C 133. This man was a full time FEDEX 727 pilot and just happened to be at the right place at the right time when Carlsson needed a co-pilot. I asked him about the flight and he said that the vibration level was incredible, way higher than any plane he had ever flown. He thought perhaps something was malfunctioning (prop imbalance?) but the owner assured him that the vibration was 100% normal. Other than the vibration he enjoyed the flight and remarked at how huge the cockpit was. Everything ran fine on the flight, no problems to write up.

I think I would have been a bit on the nail biting side:-)

Doug

A friend just sent me some photos of the two C-133s at Mojave. He got inside one of them. The cockpit has been pretty well stripped of all instruments, probably taken to Anchorage as spares for N199AB, which is still flying. He said all the prop blades are bent and the airplanes are in pretty bad shape.

The C-133 Project
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/c133bcargomaster/home.html

I read that C 133 owner Maurice Carlson, age 82 was flying left seat on the most recent flights in Alaska. I wonder if that set some sort of record. Multiply pilot's age times gross weight of acft. Doubt if any higher multiple has been reached. Chuck Yeager is getting up there in years but he flys the fast lightweight stuff. Sure hope that C 133 ends up at Travis AFB Museum.