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Description
| Manufacturer: | Douglas | |
| Base model: | C-118 | |
| Designation: | C-118 | |
| Version: | A | |
| Nickname: | Liftmaster | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1925-1962 | |
| Basic role: | Transport | |
| See Also: | ||
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Confederate Air Force - Arizona Wing | Mesa | Arizona |
| McGuire AFB | McGuire AFB | New Jersey |
| Travis Air Force Museum | Travis AFB | California |
C-118A on display
Confederate Air Force - Arizona Wing | Travis Air Force Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| loomas marshall san bernardino, CA | col Holt, caught your notes on the 118. if you will suffer me a war story. I was stationed at incirlik turkey on the bird. we had a lot of "behind the line" pilots in 1968 one particular flt we took off at an eastern turkish base on the way back to incirlic. after take off and at level off the left seat guy a major out of b-47s said "let me set the power" I said "pilots throttles" at which time he set up a weird power setting using the fuel flow for a reference. which over boosted the engines by about 100 horse power. I sat there about 2 minutes after which I stated Sir your over boosting the engines. He didn't have any idea what I was talking about. There was a flt ex in the right seat listening to this conversation and turn to me and said set me see your e6b. about that time the nav stuck his head over my shoulder and stated we're truing 260. after which the flt ex turned to me and said set up what ever power setting you need. the guy in the left seat didn't have any what an overboost was on a resip. was. . 03/04/2008 @ 19:38 [ref: 19863] |
| loomas marshall san bernardino, CA | OOPS, FORGOT THE E-M address.
ljmarsher@gmail.com WIRE ME. 02/11/2008 @ 13:32 [ref: 19653] |
| loomas marshall san bernardino, CA | I was a c-141 engineer at McChord AFB from jul 1964 through jul 1968 at which time i received orders to incirlik turkey. i was assigned to base flight, which had 3 c-118s. after having flown 'shaky' from 1964-1966 prior to 141s i climbed in the cockpit and looked around for an hour or two and was ready for a check ride. after approx 25 hrs or a couple of trips to Germany on the then European eagle i was signed off by a three stripe flt mech. Fe. overseen by a pilot flt ex. major. the bird was a pleasure to fly and except for a few differences was much like the 124 as far as power settings etc. i also checked out on the sqd vc-54. after a year i was transferred to rhien main Germany and subsequently checked put on 54s t-29 and even goonies. i retire at Norton in 1979 after having flew he 141 for two years prior to retirement.GIVE ME A CALL ON THE E-MAIL AND WE CAN SWAP WAR STORIES. 02/11/2008 @ 10:35 [ref: 19644] |
| Hastings J. Lamb III Great Falls, MT | Oooops forgot to add e-mail - lambhj@bresnan.net 01/16/2008 @ 15:10 [ref: 19323] |
| Hastings J. Lamb III Great Falls, MT | I was an in-flight passenger specialist (steward) at Clark AB in the Philippines from 1972 to 1974. I flew aboard several c-118As (Tail no.s 257, 291, I think) and spent quite a bit of time flying missions into Hong Kong, Thailand, Viet Nam, and many other locations including Australia, Singapore, etc. Some of the Crew I remember include Lt Col Paul T Biehn, Maj Smith, SSgt Steve Manley, TSgt Letchworth (deceased), Lt Col Letourno (??Spelling??). Would like to learn of aircraft disposition and how to obtain crew logs for the period mentioned above as well as hear from some of old crew. E-mail is current as of 1/16/08. Thanks for any help. 01/16/2008 @ 15:07 [ref: 19322] |
| R Steven Reese Morrisville, NC | My father, then Cpt Ernest R Reese, flew C-118A's from McGuire and Hickam. He was selected and assigned to the 1254th SAM Flight at Andrews in 1962 as an A/C, flying SAM missions for DV-1s and in support of 26000. He eventually became the flight standardization officer and retired as a Lt. Col. My brother still has his flight logs and may be able to corroborate serials / dates. 12/05/2007 @ 05:21 [ref: 18800] |
| John Holt Little Rock, AR | After graduating from pilot training in 1957 I was assigned to the 30th ATS (MATS) at McGuire AFB. We were known as the Hot Dog Squadron as we flew weekly missions from McGuire-Andrews-Harmon/GooseBay-Paris-Frankfurt. This was about a 27 hour crew time mission transporting high profile people from Washington. After arriving at McGuire I was sent off to Florida to learn to fly the C-118. After a couple of months back to McGuire to become a 2nd pilot. We sometimes flew with Navy crews as they also had a version of the C-118 on base so on occasion we mixed crews. Their pilots were supposed to be Navigators but I always wondered as I was a Navigator prior to pilot training. The C-118 was the best all weather aircraft I ever flew and over the North Atlantic and flying into Iceland, Thule, Churchill, Europe, Asia, etc we accumulated a lot of weather time. I have often flew training missions with 200 and 1/2 vis where we just went around making approach after approach and sometimes going around when the visibility dropped below minimums. Harmon AFB had one of the worst approaches with a very steep glide slope and usually really bumpy in weather. Lost a lot of engines over 4 years but the A/C flew real well on three engines. Most of my flights were carrying military families and troops back and forth. We all ways had to fly in a Class "A" uniforms if passengers were on board and Our Hot Dog Flights had special C-118's that only seated around 45 or so VIP's. We also had the pick of the stewardesses and carried 2-3. We were almost a civilian airline. I spent about 2-3 weeks away from home (Wrightstown) for 4 years with my young wife and baby. Most of us took a C-118 to Philly and got our Commercial license. Left in 1960 to go through Avionics training but after only 3 years called backed to the cockpit until I retired. I had about 3000 hrs in the C-118 and we even had a C-118 flight simulator. Flew U-6A,Convair, Gooney Bird, UH-1F helicopter, HH43 Helicopter, HH-43B Helicopter from there on out. Spent two tours in Vietnam, shot down, and came home to retire. The old C-118 was a stable great aircraft. Two were lost during my days of flying them. One had a wing burn off on a night training flight at McChord and the pilot talked all the way down as the aircraft went inverted. The other was a McGuire aircraft that was lost over the Atlantic with some aircrew I knew. A picture of the one that brought Elvis back from Europe adorns my wall. John Holt, LtCol, USAF(ret) 10/05/2007 @ 07:30 [ref: 18105] |
| John Holt Little Rock, AR | After graduating from pilot training in 1957 I was assigned to the 30th ATS (MATS) at McGuire AFB. We were known as the Hot Dog Squadron as we flew weekly missions from McGuire-Andrews-Harmon/GooseBay-Paris-Frankfurt. This was about a 27 hour crew time mission transporting high profile people from Washington. After arriving at McGuire I was sent off to Florida to learn to fly the C-118. After a couple of months back to McGuire to become a 2nd pilot. We sometimes flew with Navy crews as they also had a version of the C-118 on base so on occasion we mixed crews. Their pilots were supposed to be Navigators but I always wondered as I was a Navigator prior to pilot training. The C-118 was the best all weather aircraft I ever flew and over the North Atlantic and flying into Iceland, Thule, Churchill, Europe, Asia, etc we accumulated a lot of weather time. I have often flew training missions with 200 and 1/2 vis where we just went around making approach after approach and sometimes going around when the visibility dropped below minimums. Harmon AFB had one of the worst approaches with a very steep glide slope and usually really bumpy in weather. Lost a lot of engines over 4 years but the A/C flew real well on three engines. Most of my flights were carrying military families and troops back and forth. We all ways had to fly in a Class "A" uniforms if passengers were on board and Our Hot Dog Flights had special C-118's that only seated around 45 or so VIP's. We also had the pick of the stewardesses and carried 2-3. We were almost a civilian airline. I spent about 2-3 weeks away from home (Wrightstown) for 4 years with my young wife and baby. Most of us took a C-118 to Philly and got our Commercial license. Left in 1960 to go through Avionics training but after only 3 years called backed to the cockpit until I retired. I had about 3000 hrs in the C-118 and we even had a C-118 flight simulator. Flew U-6A,Convair, Gooney Bird, UH-1F helicopter, HH43 Helicopter, HH-43B Helicopter from there on out. Spent two tours in Vietnam, shot down, and came home to retire. The old C-118 was a stable great aircraft. Two were lost during my days of flying them. One had a wing burn off on a night training flight at McChord and the pilot talked all the way down as the aircraft went inverted. The other was a McGuire aircraft that was lost over the Atlantic with some aircrew I knew. A picture of the one that brought Elvis back from Europe adorns my wall. John Holt, LtCol, USAF(ret) 10/05/2007 @ 07:30 [ref: 18104] |
| Jim McKenzie Inverness, FL | I flew C-118s out of McGuire from the time I graduated from Pilot Training in 1957 until I transitioned into C-130Es in the early sixties. Flew the line and then in Maintenance Flight Test. Wound up with over 5000 hours and many hours of boredom, interrupted by moments of stark terror. The C-118 was the most stable aircraft that I ever flew. Trim it up, come up on the glide path, reduce power 5 inches and it would settle down to a 500 fpm rate of descent which would keep you on most precision approach glide paths. Last flight was on Memorial Day 1969 at Elmendorf AFB just before my departure for Vietnam. I like to think I could sit in the left seat and feel comfortable flying one today, 09/13/2007 @ 13:01 [ref: 17914] |
| Bob Avant , TX | I saw the note about VC 118A 53-3223. I was it's crew chief at Langley 1971-72. Also, 53-3240 which was stationed at Andrews and served Presidents Kennedy and Johnson is on display at the Pima County Air Museum in Tuscon. 07/09/2007 @ 11:24 [ref: 17050] |
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