Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. The largest military transport aircraft of the US Air Force in facts and figures
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy strategic military transport aircraft is currently the largest US Air Force in its class. Until 1982 of the year (until the creation of the An-124 "Ruslan"), it remained the largest serial cargo aircraft in the world. The aircraft can already be attributed to the long-lived: since its first flight took almost half a century. December 2015 years in the US Air Force was 57 military transport aircraft of this type. By the 2017 year, the plans should remain 52 aircraft, all in the modification of the C-5M Super Galaxy (get new engines and avionics).
The first flight of Lockheed C-5 Galaxy made 30 June 1968 of the year. Already by the summer of 1973, the customer received the last 81 aircraft in the C-5A modification, they were equipped with the 4 squadron. The aircraft quickly became the main means for the US military to quickly transfer personnel and heavy equipment to overseas theaters of military operations. A total of this type of 131 aircraft was built - 81 С-5А (years of production of 1968-1973) and 50 С-5B (years of production of 1985-1989). According to one version, the creation in the United States of a strategic military transport aircraft was stimulated by the appearance in the USSR of a heavy military transport aircraft An-22 "Antey", which in 1965 was the real information bomb for the Western press.
The development of the latest to date version of the aircraft, C-5M Super Galaxy, the company Lockheed Martin started back in 2004 year. the first sample of flight tests began in 2006 year (first flight - 19 of June). Like its predecessors, the mission of the aircraft remained unchanged: strategic freight traffic between remote theaters of military operations. Their horse is intercontinental transportation. Aircraft can be used for landing and parachute landing of troops, military equipment and cargo, as well as for the evacuation of the injured and wounded. As noted on the website of the manufacturing company, the C-5M Super Galaxy is able to fly 5250 nautical miles (9723 km) with 120 000 pounds (more than 54 tons) on board by air. His predecessors with the same weight can be overcome only 4350 miles (8056 km).
According to Lockheed Martin, after upgrading the reliability of the aircraft increased by 90%, and payload - by 20%. All within the plane of the modernization program was introduced Bole 70 improvements and changes. The growth of the maximum capacity of the aircraft has been achieved by increasing the fuselage, as well as the renovation of the power plant. The TF39-GE-1C engines were replaced with the more modern, reliable, and fuel-efficient General Electric CF6-80C2 (F108-GE-100) engines. In the booklets of Lockheed Martin, it is noted that the engines provided 22% increased thrust, 58% increased climb rate, and fuel savings compared to previous versions amounted to 10%.
The same turbojet engine (installed instead of domestic D-18) for more economical aviation In the interests of NATO, it was proposed at one time to equip Ruslan aircraft. However, the project was never implemented. At the same time, this topic has been raised in the media for many years. In the end, everyone agreed that the Americans were simply afraid to put their engine on Russian aircraft, fearing copying. Therefore, they charged an inadequate price for them. Ultimately, NATO was forced to pay at its own expense for the "appetites" of the domestic D-18 engine, and Europe, gritting its teeth (and plugging its ears and nose), endured the notorious "noise and environmental friendliness" of this aircraft engine.
Aircraft C-5M Super Galaxy has an impressive size. Its length is 75,53 meters, height - 19,84 meters, wingspan - 67,91 meters. The first flight of the Wright brothers, which took place on December 17 1903, and is considered the starting point in stories aviation, over the distance covered was shorter than the length of the aircraft "Galaxy" (in the first flight, Orville Wright overcame the entire 36,5 meters by air). Dimensions of the giant cargo compartment: length - 36,88 meters, diameter - 5,79 meters. That would be enough to accommodate bowling lanes inside 8, as well as to take on board the crew of all three ships of the Columbus expedition (about 100 people). The scale of the aircraft emphasizes the fact that the fuselage, wing and tail of the military transport aircraft contains 1 654 800 fasteners and components.
To better assess the size of the aircraft, you can make a comparison with another very common American military transporter - Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Modifications plane C-130E / H / J have the length - 29,57 meter. These are rather large cargo planes. In this case, the fuselage of the "Hercules" fits easily inside the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.
The maximum payload of the C-5M Super Galaxy is 129 kg. To more clearly imagine this value, it can be noted that this roughly corresponds to the mass of 274 famous Volkswagen Beetle cars (Volkswagen Beetle). If we talk about military equipment, then the aircraft can carry two main combat aircraft tank M1 Abrams. The aircraft can take on board 363 fully equipped fighters, ten BBV LAV-25, six Black Hawk helicopters or two sealed containers with Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles. The weight of the wings of the C-5 aircraft alone is more than 36 tons, which is comparable to the weight of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft (minus the weight of the engines).
In addition to the military cargo plane can carry humanitarian aid to those in need. The aircraft can carry 3934 bushels of wheat - more 107 tons. Also, at one time, C-5M Super Galaxy is able to carry over 328 a million aspirin tablets by air, which would be enough to soothe the headaches of a fairly populous country. One tablet would get every US resident. The maximum fuel capacity C-5M military transport plane - 150 189 kg. This compares with five full rail cars.
On the plane used tricycle landing gear. Nasal stand four-wheel, four main trolley (two on each side) - six-wheeled. The chassis is retracted into the fuselage niche. Front pillar backward flow, the main landing gear is rotated by 90 degrees. The entire chassis consists of 28 wheels, the mass of one tire of such a wheel is 4214 pounds or more 1911 kg.
It lost 6 C-5 Galaxy aircraft for the entire time of operation. In this case, three of them burned on the ground: two in 1970 (including the first built instance) and another in 1974. Two more planes crashed, one 29 on August 1990 of the year during takeoff (13 dead), the other on the forced landing of 3 on April 2006 of the year (there were no casualties). The most terrible catastrophe with participation of military transport aircraft took place in April 4 1975 years. The plane that was involved in the Babylift operation crashed; the main objective of the operation was the evacuation of street children from South Vietnam to other countries in the last days of the Vietnam War. During the flight, the C-5 Galaxy experienced explosive depressurization of the cabin, then turned back, but failed to reach the airfield. As a result, the plane made an emergency landing in a rice field in Saigon. Of the 328 people who were aboard the aircraft, 172 people (mostly children) died.
4 on April 2016, a dailyrepublic.com resource, reported that the US strategic military transport aircraft C-5M Super Galaxy from the 22 air transport wing of the US Air Force became the world record holder in terms of the highest global achievements. The aircraft made its 45 record flight, it took off from Travis Air Force Base, located in California, with a load of 120 tons and reached a horizontal flight altitude of 9 000 meters.
It should not be forgotten that the C-5M Super Galaxy is today only the third largest military transport aircraft in the world, which is inferior to the giants already created in the USSR: An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya. And if the latter refers to a real aviation exotic (there is only one flying specimen), then Ruslan is a real hard worker and a visiting card of domestic aviation. Aircraft An-124 actively used in Russia, including the Air Force of the country.
Information sources:
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/craft/c5.html
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/craft/c5m.html
http://bastion-karpenko.ru/c-5-galaxy
http://thechive.com/2016/10/14/facts-about-largest-plane-in-the-us-air-force-55-hq-photos
https://www.flickr.com (фото)
Open source materials
The first flight of Lockheed C-5 Galaxy made 30 June 1968 of the year. Already by the summer of 1973, the customer received the last 81 aircraft in the C-5A modification, they were equipped with the 4 squadron. The aircraft quickly became the main means for the US military to quickly transfer personnel and heavy equipment to overseas theaters of military operations. A total of this type of 131 aircraft was built - 81 С-5А (years of production of 1968-1973) and 50 С-5B (years of production of 1985-1989). According to one version, the creation in the United States of a strategic military transport aircraft was stimulated by the appearance in the USSR of a heavy military transport aircraft An-22 "Antey", which in 1965 was the real information bomb for the Western press.
The development of the latest to date version of the aircraft, C-5M Super Galaxy, the company Lockheed Martin started back in 2004 year. the first sample of flight tests began in 2006 year (first flight - 19 of June). Like its predecessors, the mission of the aircraft remained unchanged: strategic freight traffic between remote theaters of military operations. Their horse is intercontinental transportation. Aircraft can be used for landing and parachute landing of troops, military equipment and cargo, as well as for the evacuation of the injured and wounded. As noted on the website of the manufacturing company, the C-5M Super Galaxy is able to fly 5250 nautical miles (9723 km) with 120 000 pounds (more than 54 tons) on board by air. His predecessors with the same weight can be overcome only 4350 miles (8056 km).
According to Lockheed Martin, after upgrading the reliability of the aircraft increased by 90%, and payload - by 20%. All within the plane of the modernization program was introduced Bole 70 improvements and changes. The growth of the maximum capacity of the aircraft has been achieved by increasing the fuselage, as well as the renovation of the power plant. The TF39-GE-1C engines were replaced with the more modern, reliable, and fuel-efficient General Electric CF6-80C2 (F108-GE-100) engines. In the booklets of Lockheed Martin, it is noted that the engines provided 22% increased thrust, 58% increased climb rate, and fuel savings compared to previous versions amounted to 10%.
The same turbojet engine (installed instead of domestic D-18) for more economical aviation In the interests of NATO, it was proposed at one time to equip Ruslan aircraft. However, the project was never implemented. At the same time, this topic has been raised in the media for many years. In the end, everyone agreed that the Americans were simply afraid to put their engine on Russian aircraft, fearing copying. Therefore, they charged an inadequate price for them. Ultimately, NATO was forced to pay at its own expense for the "appetites" of the domestic D-18 engine, and Europe, gritting its teeth (and plugging its ears and nose), endured the notorious "noise and environmental friendliness" of this aircraft engine.
Aircraft C-5M Super Galaxy has an impressive size. Its length is 75,53 meters, height - 19,84 meters, wingspan - 67,91 meters. The first flight of the Wright brothers, which took place on December 17 1903, and is considered the starting point in stories aviation, over the distance covered was shorter than the length of the aircraft "Galaxy" (in the first flight, Orville Wright overcame the entire 36,5 meters by air). Dimensions of the giant cargo compartment: length - 36,88 meters, diameter - 5,79 meters. That would be enough to accommodate bowling lanes inside 8, as well as to take on board the crew of all three ships of the Columbus expedition (about 100 people). The scale of the aircraft emphasizes the fact that the fuselage, wing and tail of the military transport aircraft contains 1 654 800 fasteners and components.
To better assess the size of the aircraft, you can make a comparison with another very common American military transporter - Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Modifications plane C-130E / H / J have the length - 29,57 meter. These are rather large cargo planes. In this case, the fuselage of the "Hercules" fits easily inside the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.
The maximum payload of the C-5M Super Galaxy is 129 kg. To more clearly imagine this value, it can be noted that this roughly corresponds to the mass of 274 famous Volkswagen Beetle cars (Volkswagen Beetle). If we talk about military equipment, then the aircraft can carry two main combat aircraft tank M1 Abrams. The aircraft can take on board 363 fully equipped fighters, ten BBV LAV-25, six Black Hawk helicopters or two sealed containers with Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles. The weight of the wings of the C-5 aircraft alone is more than 36 tons, which is comparable to the weight of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft (minus the weight of the engines).
In addition to the military cargo plane can carry humanitarian aid to those in need. The aircraft can carry 3934 bushels of wheat - more 107 tons. Also, at one time, C-5M Super Galaxy is able to carry over 328 a million aspirin tablets by air, which would be enough to soothe the headaches of a fairly populous country. One tablet would get every US resident. The maximum fuel capacity C-5M military transport plane - 150 189 kg. This compares with five full rail cars.
On the plane used tricycle landing gear. Nasal stand four-wheel, four main trolley (two on each side) - six-wheeled. The chassis is retracted into the fuselage niche. Front pillar backward flow, the main landing gear is rotated by 90 degrees. The entire chassis consists of 28 wheels, the mass of one tire of such a wheel is 4214 pounds or more 1911 kg.
It lost 6 C-5 Galaxy aircraft for the entire time of operation. In this case, three of them burned on the ground: two in 1970 (including the first built instance) and another in 1974. Two more planes crashed, one 29 on August 1990 of the year during takeoff (13 dead), the other on the forced landing of 3 on April 2006 of the year (there were no casualties). The most terrible catastrophe with participation of military transport aircraft took place in April 4 1975 years. The plane that was involved in the Babylift operation crashed; the main objective of the operation was the evacuation of street children from South Vietnam to other countries in the last days of the Vietnam War. During the flight, the C-5 Galaxy experienced explosive depressurization of the cabin, then turned back, but failed to reach the airfield. As a result, the plane made an emergency landing in a rice field in Saigon. Of the 328 people who were aboard the aircraft, 172 people (mostly children) died.
4 on April 2016, a dailyrepublic.com resource, reported that the US strategic military transport aircraft C-5M Super Galaxy from the 22 air transport wing of the US Air Force became the world record holder in terms of the highest global achievements. The aircraft made its 45 record flight, it took off from Travis Air Force Base, located in California, with a load of 120 tons and reached a horizontal flight altitude of 9 000 meters.
It should not be forgotten that the C-5M Super Galaxy is today only the third largest military transport aircraft in the world, which is inferior to the giants already created in the USSR: An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya. And if the latter refers to a real aviation exotic (there is only one flying specimen), then Ruslan is a real hard worker and a visiting card of domestic aviation. Aircraft An-124 actively used in Russia, including the Air Force of the country.
Information sources:
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/craft/c5.html
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/craft/c5m.html
http://bastion-karpenko.ru/c-5-galaxy
http://thechive.com/2016/10/14/facts-about-largest-plane-in-the-us-air-force-55-hq-photos
https://www.flickr.com (фото)
Open source materials
Information