- 5/9/2025
For educational purposes
From dirigibles like the Hindenberg and Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, touching all the major milestones along the way, up to the C5 Galaxy, Fat Albert, and the U.S.S.R.'s giant AN 124.
From dirigibles to the huge jets of today, this episode traces the story of aviation's most mammoth aircraft.
From the full-bellied dirigibles to passenger jets, large-sized planes have come a long way.
The Hindenburg--the largest aircraft ever flown--the Flying Boat, the disastrous Barling Bomber, the Boeing StratoCruiser and Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose all have a place in the history of huge planes.
Air-inflated craft were popular for a time, even serving in World War I. But, cumbersome construction and navigational limits made them difficult to use.
Still, armies needed a way to transport large crews and supplies over enemy-infested waters. Along came the Spruce Goose.
Weighing over 400,000 pounds, the enormous plane was an engineering miracle that fulfilled transportation needs.
Built for civil and and military uses these amazing planes stun the imagination with their vast size.
With names such as 'Fat Albert' and 'Pregnant Guppies' these giants of the skies rank with the world's strangest aircraft.
Included are B-36, B-52, and B-1 bombers plus AN-124, the giant from Russia.
From dirigibles like the Hindenberg and Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, touching all the major milestones along the way, up to the C5 Galaxy, Fat Albert, and the U.S.S.R.'s giant AN 124.
From dirigibles to the huge jets of today, this episode traces the story of aviation's most mammoth aircraft.
From the full-bellied dirigibles to passenger jets, large-sized planes have come a long way.
The Hindenburg--the largest aircraft ever flown--the Flying Boat, the disastrous Barling Bomber, the Boeing StratoCruiser and Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose all have a place in the history of huge planes.
Air-inflated craft were popular for a time, even serving in World War I. But, cumbersome construction and navigational limits made them difficult to use.
Still, armies needed a way to transport large crews and supplies over enemy-infested waters. Along came the Spruce Goose.
Weighing over 400,000 pounds, the enormous plane was an engineering miracle that fulfilled transportation needs.
Built for civil and and military uses these amazing planes stun the imagination with their vast size.
With names such as 'Fat Albert' and 'Pregnant Guppies' these giants of the skies rank with the world's strangest aircraft.
Included are B-36, B-52, and B-1 bombers plus AN-124, the giant from Russia.
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00The End
00:30There are many purposes to which aircraft can be put.
00:50For some of these, it's desirable that the aeroplane be as big as is practical to build and to use.
00:56At the moment, this is one of the biggest planes in the world,
00:59the Antonov 124, the Soviet equivalent of Lockheed's giant C-5.
01:05Capable of a take-off weight of nearly 900,000 pounds, the AN-124 is a modern giant.
01:12Of course, the largest aircraft ever constructed dwarf a plane like the Antonov.
01:17They were lighter than air and capable of prodigious lifting.
01:21The German pioneer of rigid airships, Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin,
01:25whose name is synonymous with them, had started his developments in 1900.
01:30And it was the success of his company's advances of the concept
01:33that encouraged some competitive experimentation and research around the world over the next 30 years.
01:40The Marchüher host, Graf Ferdinand,
01:58The United States Navy became one of the major players in the International Airship Big League
02:26with the building of the Shenandoah and subsequently the Akron and Macon.
02:52The US Navy's airships established a good record in operations,
02:57combining well with fleet activity,
02:59although their jettisoning of water ballast like this
03:01may not have always won every sailor's affection.
03:12The picture of airships stored in the collective memory
03:15is of them spread over hillsides,
03:17helpless in the face of extreme weather and fatally uncontrollable.
03:21This is the famous wreck of the Shenandoah,
03:23more confirmation of the airship's bad reputation.
03:26But what's overlooked is that that ship had successfully flown for two trouble-free years
03:32prior to the mistaken route decision taken against the advice of her captain that had doomed her.
03:37There are those who still expound the case for rigid airships and they have several very good arguments to support their assertions.
03:44Modern airships should be very efficient, cheap to operate and, theoretically at least, very safe.
03:50That there were successful airships and proportionately very little loss of life in the crashes seems today to count for little.
03:58But the return of the airship cannot be discounted as a possibility for the future.
04:02For the moment, the largest aircraft ever flown will remain the giant Zeppelins of the 30s,
04:08culminating in the Hindenburg, 804 feet long.
04:16Against the record of the airships, aeroplanes were making little headway.
04:21Limitations on size and range were exacerbated by the available engine's lack of power and reliability
04:26and the scarcity of adequate landing fields.
04:30However, in the years leading up to World War II, the development of air travel began to pick up speed
04:35and the 30s were marked by a succession of airliners getting more sophisticated and bigger
04:40with increases in both range and capacity.
04:56While the period between the wars saw a gradual emergence of practical land-based passenger aircraft,
05:06more prominent, for a number of reasons, were the flying boats.
05:10The seas, lakes and rivers of the planet offered a ready supply of maintenance-free air bases
05:15at a time when few land-based aerodromes had been constructed.
05:20The limited power of the engines of the day also meant that to have a significant capacity,
05:24a plane needed a number of engines and a long take-off.
05:29So, the era saw a succession of planes that quickly became quite large
05:33and then proceeded to get bigger.
05:35The British company Shorts was one of the leaders,
05:38along with most of the major American companies.
05:40Indeed, internationally, almost all the major aviation companies built flying boats
05:45with varying success.
05:46The Boeing Clipper, seen here under construction,
05:57was one of the most successful of them
05:59and opened up the transatlantic route to American operators.
06:06We've mentioned earlier that the limited power of the engines of the day
06:10was a factor in the success of the flying boats,
06:12but another aspect of the engines' performance that came into play
06:16was their unreliability.
06:18If one was going to cross a very large expanse of water
06:21in a plane that could not rely on its engines to simply keep going,
06:25then it was obviously best if your plane had the ability to land safely on water.
06:30This extremely practical manifestation of the instinct for self-preservation
06:34meant that the flying boats were regarded with some affection and trust,
06:38while their land-based brethren were still widely considered unsafe.
06:42The German Dornier Company had also attempted to become engaged
06:49in the transatlantic passenger business with giant flying boats,
06:53and the Luftwaffe was to toy with such craft right through World War II,
06:57but it was the US Navy which employed the largest collection of types
07:00and extended their use.
07:03The Navy's patrol planes were formidably effective submarine hunters,
07:07as well as performing myriad other roles.
07:09The Martin Company's series of great flying boats for the Navy
07:13were outstanding in their success.
07:15The PBM mariners served with wartime distinction in a great range of variants,
07:20from unarmed transports through to highly effective
07:22and heavily armed radar-carrying sub-killers.
07:27Because of their effectiveness and relative cheapness,
07:30the mariners pushed back the priority of their bigger brother,
07:33the enormous four-engined Mars,
07:35and only a handful of these massive planes were constructed.
07:38the PBMs were constructed.
07:39The PBMs were constructed.
07:40The PBMs were constructed.
07:41The PBMs were constructed.
07:42The PBMs were constructed.
07:43The PBMs were constructed.
07:44The PBMs were constructed.
07:45The PBMs were constructed.
07:46The PBMs were constructed.
07:47The PBMs were constructed.
07:48The PBMs were constructed.
07:49The PBMs were constructed.
07:50The PBMs were constructed.
07:51The PBMs were constructed.
07:52The PBMs were constructed.
07:53The PBMs were constructed.
07:54The PBMs were constructed.
07:55The PBMs were constructed.
07:56The PBMs were constructed.
07:57The PBMs were constructed.
07:58The PBMs were constructed.
07:59The PBMs were constructed.
08:00The PBMs were constructed.
08:01The PBMs were constructed.
08:02With the range approaching 5,000 miles,
08:32miles, the 144,000-pound Mars, with two decks and a crew of 11, was so big that it inspired
08:39publicity men to arrange formal ceremonies at the launching on November 5, 1941. Embarrassingly,
08:46an accidental fire in one of the engines intervened to ruin the publicity value of that occasion.
08:53In the event, the plane's size worked against it. It simply was too daunting a prospect
08:58to arm it and upgrade it to military use, and against the cost of the developed mariners,
09:03the Mars could not be justified. The few that were constructed were all made to transport
09:08specifications. The mariners stayed with the Navy after the World War and through Korea,
09:18and the Martin Company continued to build flying boats, developments of the mariner, for the
09:22Navy until 1960. But after the war, the availability of numerous concrete runways and equipment,
09:28and thousands of planes to use them, spelt the end of the flying boats era, especially
09:33as civil aircraft. Martin, with a history stretching back to include America's first indigenous bomber
09:39and a distinguished stable of other aircraft, no longer built planes, having focused entirely
09:45on missile production.
10:04It remains to speak of only one more of the wartime giant flying boats, the biggest of them
10:09all Howard Hughes Hercules, popularly more familiar as the Spruce Goose. The eight-engined Hercules
10:16had a wingspan that remains the greatest ever built, 320 feet 6 inches, as compared to a Boeing
10:22747's 195 feet. But the Boeing is not smaller. It weighs in at 320 tonnes, as compared to the
10:30Hercules 190 tonnes. The smaller wing represents the march of technology. The Jumbo doesn't
10:37need the huge span of the Hercules. The Goose flew only once, just over a mile, and only
10:43to a height of 70 feet, in 1947. By that time there was simply no need, nor any justification,
10:50for the Leviathan flying boat.
10:57The development of large land-based aircraft had eventually been made possible by the demands
11:01of the world's air forces for bombers. World War One had closed, with the bombers of the
11:06day being very limited in terms of their speed, range and ability to carry a worthwhile payload.
11:12Bigger bombers had been under development by all of the major combatants at war's end,
11:17and this work proceeded throughout the peace that followed. In 1923, the US first flew
11:23its new Barling bomber, which had been produced at great expense as a model for long-range
11:28heavy bombers of the future. In this, the Barling was to prove a disappointment, being one of
11:33the most unsuccessful designs of all time.
11:36its designer, Walter Barling, had been responsible for the even more disastrous Tarrant Tabor, which
11:50was unable to fly, as the use of the engines, insanely placed between the upper wings, simply
11:55threw it onto its nose at take-off.
12:04The Barling was protected from this by the otherwise useless undercarriage bolted to the
12:07front of the plane, but the designer seemed to have learnt little else from his earlier
12:11experience. Three wings, four rudders, six engines and ten landing wheels, together with
12:17a multitude of struts, braces and wires, gave the Barling sufficient drag to ensure that,
12:23though it did fly, it did so pretty reluctantly. And, cruising at 60 miles per hour, if saddled
12:30with any sort of payload, it was limited to under 200 miles total range.
12:36Despite its military uselessness, the Barling was a very big plane, and for some time was
12:46a sort of success as a public relations exercise, and flew wallowingly around the US making special
12:52appearances. Eventually, it became too embarrassing, and was scrapped. Scrapping the Barling did not
13:02mean that the idea of big bombers had been abandoned. After a pause to let its memory die,
13:07large experimental planes were built that did test the ability of both the designers and
13:12the technology available to them.
13:17One of the most significant of these experiments was also a relative failure, in that only one
13:22example was built. The program commenced in 1935, and the result, the Douglas XB-19, could
13:29be described as the first modern giant. Not until the B-36 came into service well after
13:35the war, was the US to have a bigger bomber. The XB-19 encapsulates the twin design demands
13:41of the strategic bomber very neatly. It was built to carry a large load a very long way.
13:47In the case of the Douglas giant, the range was to be 7,000 miles, and the intent was to be able
13:53to bomb targets in Europe from bases in the United States. A very ambitious project.
13:59The XB-19 did not actually fly until 1941, and the company by then had lost enthusiasm
14:06for the project. In practical terms, the plane was simply an experiment, and there was no
14:11likelihood that there would be a production run of it. By then, there was enough new knowledge,
14:16some of it stemming from the experience of constructing the XB-19 itself, to make the
14:21plane superseded. Still, a crowd of awed servicemen would gather round it wherever it sat.
14:29A few months before the commencement of the XB-19 project, the Boeing company had been given
14:34a contract that was to produce a much smaller plane that would be far more influential in
14:38the coming conflict, the XB-15. Boeing's experience with that plane translated into the successful
14:46flying fortress, and Boeing have, of course, been building big aircraft ever since.
14:53One of the most significant of Boeing's bombers was the B-29 Superfortress, the plane that was
14:58to be World War II's most remarkable proof of the bomber's power. It's sobering to consider
15:03that during the course of the whole war, the Japanese armed forces suffered a total of
15:08760,000 casualties, while in only nine months of Superfortress action against Japan, over
15:15806,000 civilian casualties were inflicted. Statistics like those forcefully ram home the
15:22strength of the case made by the proponents of large-scale bombing, and make sense of the
15:26efforts made to ensure the practicality of future deployment of bombers in the period since the war.
15:32The B-29 was not, in today's terms, a giant, but the plane that followed it into use as the
15:38Strategic Air Command's strike weapon, the B-36, certainly was. However, it was during the
15:44career of this plane that the nature of the bomber itself changed, and size was no longer
15:49such a virtue. The proportions and weight of the atomic bombs changed, the nature and
15:55effectiveness of anti-aircraft defences changed, and the power and reliability of jet technology
16:00was, over a few developmental generations, to radically improve. These factors contributed
16:07to a revision of the aircraft's expected role, speed and capability, and the radical advances
16:12made in the understanding of aerodynamics and aircraft's design to transonic capability
16:17was to ensure that the future bomber would be a smaller package. There are, of course,
16:22several ways to consider a plane's size, from its overall wingspan and length to its weight
16:28or its capacity. The B-36 was certainly a giant in terms of its wingspan, and one of the biggest
16:34bombers ever to go into full-scale production. A plane with smaller dimensions replaced the B-36,
16:54Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress. But it could carry a greater load far further than the six-engined
17:00giant, at a speed about 50% faster. The remarkable B-52 came into service in 1954, commencing a career
17:09that would go on for over 30 years. While it's smaller than the B-36 in many respects, it's
17:16possibly truer to say that bombers ceased to get bigger, rather than to infer that they have become
17:21small. No one in their right mind would assert that the B-52 is not a very big plane. As was
17:28the six-engined Mach 3 XB-70 Valkyrie that first flew in 1963, an engineering and design success
17:36that was abandoned for reasons that included the preference for nuclear-armed missiles and the presence
17:41of highly accurate radar-controlled air defences. The idea of the Valkyrie was rejected, as was the idea
17:55of the B-1 at first. Today's bomber is speedy, hugs the earth with the assistance of computers and employs
18:02stealth and suppression technologies. It can attempt a mission only because of its complex defensive avionics.
18:08Its job has become very tough, some would argue impossible.
18:28At the end of the Second World War, it appeared that everything had changed in civil aviation.
18:33Engines could be relied on. There were thousands of multi-engined planes and a huge
18:38reserve of trained pilots. And the globe was now liberally spattered with concrete runways,
18:44even if many of them were in pretty obscure places. The era of air travel seemed to be
18:49about to seriously dawn. The manufacturers had enormous plants, teeming with trained employees
18:55experienced in designing and building large transports and bombers. They were obviously going
19:01to be able to supply the planes for this travel explosion, and indeed needed to do so to remain
19:06economically afloat.
19:08The first large post-war passenger planes followed the earlier pattern in being civil
19:21variants of military aircraft, such as Boeing Stratocruiser, which more than any other airliner
19:27was the type which set the standard for long range operations in its day. Only 55 were built,
19:33with a new two-deck pressurised fuselage married to the wings, engines, landing gear and other
19:38components of the B-29 Superfortress. Reportedly their most popular feature was the lower deck
19:44lounge and cocktail bar.
19:46As bombers changed and became less compatible, the civil market hotted up, and with the availability
20:01of the new generations of jets delivering greater power, a revolution occurred. The civil market
20:08started again to require its own concepts. The most important process over this period was
20:13to lower the cost to the passenger to encourage mass use of the aeroplane. But the market grew almost
20:19painfully slowly, and the size of passenger planes grew only gradually. The already over-powerful
20:25engines on the planes could, by this time, have been further increased in power enormously. But there was
20:31not firm enough foreseeable demand to make the enormous cost of development of significantly larger planes
20:36a secure investment. Instead, the companies developed a variety of planes with varying routes in mind, setting
20:44parameters on range and accommodation, up to, say, the long-range Boeing 707, capable of around 4,000 miles
20:51and seating up to 220 people. There were planes to cope with smaller needs than that, but there was no plane capable
20:58of carrying over double that number of passengers.
21:08Finally, the Boeing company took the move that really changed the world of civil aviation, in bringing out its 747.
21:15The challenge was enormous. The plane in question had to be safe to operate from the world's existing runways
21:22and through the world's airport terminals. It had to inspire confidence in the public
21:27and be cheap enough to operate to allow charging that would truly broaden the market.
21:32It had to convince the airline operators and the civil aviation controllers
21:36and then stand a chance of reaping a huge reward if the public response was as foreseen.
21:42First, the company had to design and construct the giant aircraft.
22:12The 747 made its maiden flight on February the 9th, 1969, and the first 747 entered service with Pan Am
22:29on January the 22nd, 1970. By then, the success of the project was assured, with firm orders for over 180 of the planes
22:38having been placed by the end of 1969. Key to the plane was its employment of four huge gas turbine engines,
22:45which were the largest factor in producing a completely new low cost in air transport, principally by fuel savings.
22:52There are possible ways of increasing the flow of civil aviation. One is to make the planes faster, or make them bigger, or a combination of both.
23:11For the moment, the 747, 20 years on, is still the basic factor in today's civil air transport scene.
23:20And with take-off weights of up to 870,000 pounds, almost twice that of the B-1 bomber, is a very big aeroplane.
23:28With a speed of over 600 miles per hour, the 747, carrying up to 490 passengers, is today's ultimate big people mover.
23:51Any radical increase in size is, for the moment, unlikely, and would probably need further breakthroughs in technology,
23:58possibly involving planes that leave the atmosphere in flight.
24:02It may also require completely new ground handling facilities.
24:06If the military need for bigger and bigger bombers was overrun by the increasing sophistication of the defences and the missions,
24:28there was one area of military need that continued to require the maximum possible lift.
24:33When the Second World War began, there simply were no transport aeroplanes in the modern sense.
24:39As a result, during the war, the Germans and the Allies both meddled with the risky and expensive business of employing gliders.
24:47The German Messerschmitt Company's Gigant serves as the best example.
24:51The thing was designed in expectation of being used in the invasion of England, and was rushed through design and into production.
24:59It actually represents a pretty good effort at a probably impossible task, and some of its features, like the clamshell doors in the nose, have become commonplace.
25:09But it was very big, and designed to take off weighing around 40 tonnes, loaded with tanks.
25:15Quite simply, the thing that had been overlooked was the finding of a suitable tug.
25:21Leaving the engines off the Gigant made them much simpler to mass produce in a hurry.
25:25But they still had to be dragged into the air, and there was no plane available that had the spare power to accomplish that,
25:32even with rocket assistance from pods on the Gigant's wings.
25:36.
25:46.
25:51.
25:55.
25:59Three twin-engined Messerschmitt 110s trained to haul the thing along
26:12in an operation that was truly and awesomely dangerous.
26:16There were a great number of ways for this process to foul up
26:19and it fouled up repeatedly, sometimes with massive loss of life.
26:29So, let's go.
26:59Messerschmitt eventually did the logical thing
27:14and added six engines to their monster.
27:17But although as transports these ME-323s did perform effectively,
27:22in a war theatre they were too slow to survive
27:25and were easy meat for any Allied fighter they happened to blunder into.
27:30Unable to run and virtually defenceless,
27:33despite the slots for the passengers to fire off their rifles through.
27:36At the end of the war, the U.S. transports remained either the relatively small,
28:06purpose-built Douglas planes or similar-sized variants of bombers.
28:11This KB-50 development of the B-29 had added jet engines to help it take off
28:17and to up its speed to allow safe in-flight refuelling for fighters.
28:21Plans of this type were to serve the USAF for many years,
28:25but obviously there were limitations on what they could achieve due simply to their size
28:29and the absence of specialist design features to make them true cargo aircraft in today's terms.
28:36Though adequate for refuelling, they were incapable of lugging tanks around.
28:39The idea of simply varying the fuselage of bombers to produce passenger and transport planes persisted, however.
29:00And the six-engined B-36, for example, was developed into the XC-99,
29:06with a huge cylindrical fuselage capable of carrying 50 tonnes of cargo or 400 troops.
29:11Compared to the World War II transports, which were capable of carrying up to around 10 tonnes,
29:17this was undoubtedly a huge advance.
29:21But again, the planes were limited in what could be inserted into the fuselage to make up that tonnage.
29:27Though the world's largest land plane at the time, the XC-99 was never proceeded with,
29:32only one being built, and though that plane flew safely and relatively economically from 1949 to 1957,
29:41the project was abandoned.
29:56As the Germans had realised in building their Jigaat,
29:59to deliver the troops of a division to a war zone was not of much use
30:03if they were not accompanied by their equipment, tanks, artillery, trucks and so on.
30:08The XC-99 may have made a successful cargo plane,
30:12but as a military transport, it suffered from the limitations of all such adaptations of bombers.
30:17It hadn't been designed for the role.
30:29Perhaps Convair's XC-99 would have been a greater success as a civil passenger plane.
30:47But orders from Pan Am were also cancelled,
30:50and there was not to be a civil transport as big for many years
30:53till the DC-10 and 747 took to the skies.
30:56At the same time as the XC-99 was being developed,
31:15the US Navy was working with the Lockheed Company
31:17on a transport and cargo carrier, the Constitution.
31:21Again, the plane showed more potential as a troop transport
31:25and, by implication, a civil airliner.
31:28Indeed, Pan Am engineers served as consultants to the Navy on the project.
31:34The Constitution, with a span of more than 189 feet
31:37and length of 156 feet,
31:40was the biggest plane to be made by Lockheed up to its C-5 galaxy.
31:44The pressurised fuselage of the plane was double-decked,
32:06with accommodation on both decks
32:07and two circular staircases, one fore and one aft.
32:11Alternatively, cargo could be stowed on the lower deck
32:14with the capability of handling vehicles only up to the size of a jeep.
32:19The Constitution, with seating for around 200 sailors,
32:23would have been reconfigured to carry about 110 passengers
32:27if a civil variant had been delivered.
32:29A point that emphasises the size of the plane were the service accesses
32:36so that, in flight, engineers could go out inside the wing to the engines.
32:42In the end, neither the airlines nor the Navy went ahead with purchases.
32:47Only two of the planes were built
32:49and the Navy flew them from 1946 to 1953
32:52and after that they were sold to a civil operator.
32:56When confronted with the cost of having the pair certified for civil use,
33:00the owners lost confidence and the two stately planes were scrapped.
33:03The Douglas Company, meanwhile, had developed its 1945-designed C-74 Globemaster
33:13with a new fuselage as the C-124.
33:17It was designed as a cargo plane
33:20and directly addressed the critical problems of loading large vehicles.
33:24Experience and logic both confirmed
33:26that wriggling cargo into a plane through side doors was ineffective.
33:30On the earlier C-74, the problem had been addressed
33:34with the development of a lift
33:36that lowered and raised a section of the floor of the plane.
33:47For rapid loading and unloading
33:48and for maximum utilisation of the cargo space in a plane,
33:52end loading is essential.
33:54Loading from the front presents the fewest problems
33:57and this method was adopted on the C-124.
34:00The Globemaster represents the first generation
34:03of truly practical tactical air transports.
34:06They were introduced in 1949
34:08with the ability to lift a 50,000-pound payload
34:11and set the pattern for future military transports.
34:15Their successors drew on the logic of their design
34:17in emphasising the cargo role
34:19rather than the passenger transport role.
34:22The cargo planes have proceeded
34:24to get more specialists ever since.
34:26Of course, for the Globemasters, time ran out
34:29and they were scrapped
34:31and turned back into aluminium ingots.
34:33The Globemasters are now being organized.
34:38The Globemaster was the first-step
34:41and taken out of the above
34:42and is the last-step,
34:44Not all planes
35:13get this treatment as soon as they're obsolete. Sometimes they get rebuilt, as happened
35:18to a number of Stratocruisers and C-97s, which were turned into what's cutely referred to
35:23as the pregnant guppies. To transport components for the Saturn rocket program, the planes had
35:29a huge lobe joined above the normal fuselage to give them an inside diameter over 20 feet.
35:35Later variants were even more distorted to have an inside height of 25 feet. Nowadays
35:42they're even used to cart assembled sections of aircraft fuselages between factories.
35:51To load the guppy there are no doors. The plane is simply split into two sections, the cargo
35:56inserted and the fuselage then bolted back together around it. Obviously this is time consuming
36:02and cumbersome and is only applicable to particular situations and particular loads. It wouldn't
36:08be practical in a military airlift. But the guppies are truly notable transport aircraft,
36:13not just because they look so weird, but because they are practical giants.
36:17In the area of military transport, it was the Lockheed Company that was gradually to claim
36:47the production niche for themselves. Starting with the Hercules in 1956, they have built a series
36:53of planes, all of which are still in service today, which fill the whole gamut of needs in
36:58tactical materials supply. The four jet C-141 Starlifter was the winner of a 1960 competition
37:06for the USAF's first jet powered long range freighter. The Lockheed design team had settled
37:12on a high wing concept to place the floor of the aircraft at truck bed height. With all
37:18the fuel stored in the wings, a new system of articulated tanks was devised to cope with
37:23the flexing of the wings. The four big jet engines employed thrust reversal assemblies to
37:30allow up to 40% of the engine's power to be used for braking to shorten the length of the
37:35landing strip needed for the aircraft.
37:52The initial configuration of the Starlifter gave it a span of 160 foot and a length of
37:571445 feet. Carrying 62,000 pounds of payload, it had a range of 4,100 miles. Its interior space
38:07of 6,500 cubic feet in a 70 foot long cargo hold did not allow the plane to actually carry
38:14as much as the available power of the engines could cope with. This was to become more significant
38:20later in its career.
38:35For cargo loading and unloading, a multi-segment hydraulically operated rear door was provided
38:41incorporating a vehicle ramp.
38:50The first C-141 took to the air on the 60th anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic
38:55flight on the 17th of December 1963. Deliveries to the USAF began in 1964 and in all, 285 of
39:04the big transports were ordered and delivered. The type became operational with the military
39:09airlift command on the 23rd of April 1965. Within four months, the Starlifter was called on
39:16to play a major role in the airlift of personnel, equipment and supplies to and from Vietnam.
39:23They were to stay in use on that route until the last flights out, loaded with refugees in
39:281975.
39:33The nose doors of the earlier Globemasters and Germany's Gigant did not allow for any air dropping
39:38of cargo or troops, and so the incorporation of rear doors has replaced or complements them
39:44in all military transports.
39:49Tight budgets after 1973 meant that the material airlift command was unable to increase its fleet,
39:56and in addition, by then it was obvious that the C-141 needed modifications, particularly
40:01to incorporate in-flight refuelling. Lockheed and the USAF devised a scheme to fill both requirements
40:07at minimum cost. By inserting a 13-foot fuselage plug in front of the wing and another 10-foot
40:14insert behind the wing, the usable volume was increased by almost 75% to 11,399 cubic feet.
40:24In-flight refuelling apparatus was incorporated in the forward plug. After flight trials on the
40:30modification in 1977, Lockheed were funded to modify all existing C-141s to the new specification.
40:40Now, with a maximum payload of 89,000 pounds and a fuselage of 168 feet, the C-141 is even
40:48more impressive. But the original USAF specification had failed to allow sufficient width in the fuselage
40:55to enable the cartage of some large pieces of army equipment, such as heavy tanks and troop-carrying
41:01helicopters. Therefore, it couldn't cater for the increasing desire to do away with large,
41:07expensive overseas garrisons and replace them with an increased flexibility of home-based troops.
41:14Contracts for design studies were awarded, and eventually, Lockheed and General Electric were
41:19selected to build the airframes and engines of the new transport, which was to be able to carry over
41:24twice the load of the Starlifter, the C-5 Galaxy. The C-5 looks pretty much like an enlarged C-141,
41:33retaining the high-mounted wing, underslung engines, T-tail and undercarriage pods.
41:41General Jack Catton, Commander of the Military Airlift Command, flew the C-5 at Edwards Air Force Base
41:47just before the official acceptance of the first aeroplane.
41:49General Jack Catton, Commander of the Air Force Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base Base
42:19as their weight and length combined to set up severe wing oscillations
42:24and Lockheed had to develop special constant computer monitoring
42:27and damping of the wing to keep the flapping to a minimum.
42:40Even with the system operating, there's some movement of the wings
42:43but with it off, the plane mimics a bird.
42:49Though it can cruise 8,400 miles empty, with its maximum payload of 265,000 pound,
43:06the galaxy's range is reduced to under 2,000 miles.
43:10As a result, in-flight refuelling is not only essential but frequent.
43:15The galaxy making the Boeing 707-based C-135 tanker
43:19look like a midget.
43:38The galaxy has acquired the in-service nickname of Fat Albert,
43:42an acknowledgement of its size.
43:44That size is, of course, the reason for the plane's existence
43:48and its lifting power makes it immensely valuable and versatile.
43:53Here we see a galaxy involved in flying in relief equipment to a snowbound town.
43:57The galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large-scale, the galaxy's a large
44:27An implication of the plane's dimensions and the loads it would carry was that it would
44:52need pretty special undercarriage to cope, especially as it had to be accommodated by
44:56existing airfields. The C5 ended up with an unusually complicated arrangement consisting of a four-wheel
45:03nose unit and four six-wheel main bogies. In addition, the C5 undercarriage boasted an unusual
45:10ability to lower the plane in an apparent kneel, easing loading and unloading.
45:15Roger 461, you are cleared to land, wind is called. Tower, we're a little bit wider in the wings than a 747, so we'll take a little more clearance.
45:35That's okay, we have a place for 747, so we'll be able to handle you.
45:40Crew, can I have your attention? This is the aircraft commander. We're the first C5 to arrive in Tel Aviv.
45:47Roger that, sir.
45:51During the 1973 Middle East War, the C5s and C141s were used to fly in supplies to the Israeli forces.
46:01The ability of the aircraft to bring in many tons of urgent supplies was more than a symbolic contribution.
46:08The main cargo compartment of the C5 was designed with a length of 121 feet, a width of 19 feet,
46:15and a height that varies between 9 foot 6 inches under the wing to 13 feet 6 inches in the aft section.
46:22This gives it a total usable volume of 34,796 cubic feet, more than five times the capacity of the C141A's compartment.
46:42Ordinarily, what a C5 does is not of itself warlike. It's a transport plane.
46:48But studies have been conducted that could have led to it becoming a very warlike proposition,
46:53in incorporating it into an offensive system as a missile launch pad.
46:58Tests were conducted on systems for extracting missiles from galaxies in flight,
47:03using drogue chutes to tow the missile, on a trolley, out of the plane.
47:08The rockets of the missile would then be fired, sending it on its way to a target.
47:12Tests 2
47:188
47:251
47:262
47:27political
47:29毒
47:312
47:3492
47:39Roaming galaxies loaded with palletized cruise missiles,
48:07equipped to deploy them rapidly, would present a diabolical challenge to the
48:12planners of an air defense system.
48:18But the C-5's deployment is as a transport and it has been hard at work
48:23since coming into service in 1970. By August of that year they were being
48:29employed to fly equipment to Vietnam.
48:33The Galaxy can be used as a troop transport and with a rear deck installed
48:41can seat around 360 troops. Like the C-141 the C-5 was designed to meet both
48:48military specifications and potential civil requirements and Lockheed tried to
48:53market the plane as a commercial freighter and as a 1,000 seat airliner but the
48:58aeroplane's capacity in either role was excessive for existing traffic levels and
49:02the airlines were not interested. The Galaxy resulted from a program called CXHLS
49:09for Cargo Experimental Heavy Logistics System, an unglamorous sounding name for
49:15a perhaps unglamorous job. It remains a military transport with a myriad of
49:20cargoes. With its dimensions there isn't much that's been asked of it that it
49:25hasn't been able to do.
49:32the Galaxy is a military transport with a regular transportation system. With the
49:41CXHLS with a very well-rounded advantage and the access to the construction system, I don't know how to
49:44work. It's not easy to do. It's not easy to do. It's about how to work with a
49:45repair system, but with a certain sort of bribe system, it's about a administrative
49:48system that's going to be a great job. The Army, the Army, the Americanç ²
50:53In common with the galaxy, the Soviet's AN-124 has straight-through loading and unloading,
50:59with ramps in the nose and the tail.
51:02The Russian plane, with its maximum take-off weight of 870,000 pounds, is slightly larger,
51:09though some of this weight is absorbed in the less sophisticated construction of the plane itself.
51:14Both are modern giants, not the biggest planes in the world, but certainly big enough.
51:19Future giants will doubtless evolve.
51:39There doesn't seem to be any shortage of carting things about to be done.
51:43And in some ways, we're still working with the first generations of these massive transport planes.
51:50Undoubtedly, lessons are being learned and answers to problems deduced, ready for testing in the next generation.
51:57The Russian plane
53:08From early rotary wings to the outstanding AV-8 Harrier of today, don't miss this program, simply titled Vertical.
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50:21
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