28 September 2012

US C-17 Globemasters at Fairbairn

| akinky
Join the conversation
17

Has anyone seen these planes?

Two or three arrived yesterday I think and I got a close up look at one taking off this morning.

Had AMC Charleston on the side – and there are some good pics on their website of refueling operations in the air etc.

Join the conversation

17
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

poetix said :

Pork Hunt said :

poetix said :

Pork Hunt said :

I was a RAAFie at Fairbairn in the late ’80’s when the Australian peace keepers came back from the Sinai in a C5 Galaxy.
To make the lads feel at ‘home’, the marshalling crew were wearing Arab clothing including head dress and one was holding a lead rope with a camel on the other end.
The said beast was borrowed from a circus which was in town at the time. Upon seeing/hearing the taxying C5, the camel wanted no further part in proceedings and legged it.
From memory the airport was shut for two hours until it was recaptured.

So planes don’t like speed humps?

Correct. Fortunately the camel in question was a dromedary, not Bactrian.

Good. Because bacterial weapons are Bad.

When we did NBC training at rookies, I’m pretty sure the “C” didn’t stand for “Camel”

Pork Hunt said :

poetix said :

Pork Hunt said :

I was a RAAFie at Fairbairn in the late ’80’s when the Australian peace keepers came back from the Sinai in a C5 Galaxy.
To make the lads feel at ‘home’, the marshalling crew were wearing Arab clothing including head dress and one was holding a lead rope with a camel on the other end.
The said beast was borrowed from a circus which was in town at the time. Upon seeing/hearing the taxying C5, the camel wanted no further part in proceedings and legged it.
From memory the airport was shut for two hours until it was recaptured.

So planes don’t like speed humps?

Correct. Fortunately the camel in question was a dromedary, not Bactrian.

Good. Because bacterial weapons are Bad.

poetix said :

Pork Hunt said :

I was a RAAFie at Fairbairn in the late ’80’s when the Australian peace keepers came back from the Sinai in a C5 Galaxy.
To make the lads feel at ‘home’, the marshalling crew were wearing Arab clothing including head dress and one was holding a lead rope with a camel on the other end.
The said beast was borrowed from a circus which was in town at the time. Upon seeing/hearing the taxying C5, the camel wanted no further part in proceedings and legged it.
From memory the airport was shut for two hours until it was recaptured.

So planes don’t like speed humps?

Correct. Fortunately the camel in question was a dromedary, not Bactrian.

Sir Pompously9:49 pm 29 Sep 12

When I was at work I saw one on Wednesday and another was there on Thursday. I did tweet USAF asking what base the yellow band was, but they never got back (as the original post says they were from Chalreston).

Would have been good to have seen the aircraft take off. When the last C-5 came to Canberra I was lucky enough to be out to watch it taxi past, line up on the runway and ……… then taxi back over to the RAAF base 🙁 Photos of that can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kommissar_todd06/sets/72157627991858451/with/6340237328/

I work at Fairbairn and have seen them for the past couple for days and watched them take off yesterday. Both were USAF aircraft as evidenced by the yellow stripe on the tail.

One of the coolest things is watching one land, seeing it immediately reverse thrust not only sufficient to stop forward momentum, but also then to reverse the aircraft back up the runway without turning around. A quick increase in throttle and it take off again. A truly beautiful aircraft!

shauno said :

If you read up on the C5 Galaxy that was actually designed for rough dirt runways as well but they reckon that was a big mistake in the design of it as its never been used in that role and it wasted a lot money.

It wouldn’t have been a feature designed for normal use, but an emergency capability. Given the maintenance requirements on the bigger aircraft, you wouldn’t do it more than you had to.

Big problem with the C5s is their maintenance is ridiculous and the design was flawed from the start, as tragically demonstrated in Vietnam.

If you read up on the C5 Galaxy that was actually designed for rough dirt runways as well but they reckon that was a big mistake in the design of it as its never been used in that role and it wasted a lot money.

johnboy said :

They’re designed to fly off short and rough runways.

Rather important for military aircraft.

What, like that IL76 a few years ago? 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BY7-LgF7d4

Imho the c17 I’d a far better build than anything the Russians made

Pork Hunt said :

I was a RAAFie at Fairbairn in the late ’80’s when the Australian peace keepers came back from the Sinai in a C5 Galaxy.
To make the lads feel at ‘home’, the marshalling crew were wearing Arab clothing including head dress and one was holding a lead rope with a camel on the other end.
The said beast was borrowed from a circus which was in town at the time. Upon seeing/hearing the taxying C5, the camel wanted no further part in proceedings and legged it.
From memory the airport was shut for two hours until it was recaptured.

So planes don’t like speed humps?

I was a RAAFie at Fairbairn in the late ’80’s when the Australian peace keepers came back from the Sinai in a C5 Galaxy.
To make the lads feel at ‘home’, the marshalling crew were wearing Arab clothing including head dress and one was holding a lead rope with a camel on the other end.
The said beast was borrowed from a circus which was in town at the time. Upon seeing/hearing the taxying C5, the camel wanted no further part in proceedings and legged it.
From memory the airport was shut for two hours until it was recaptured.

bundah said :

Saw a C-5 Galaxy at Canberra Airport almost a decade ago which are slightly bigger than a 747-400.It looked bloody huge when viewed up close from the RAAF base!

I was sitting on the taxiway probably watching that beast turn onto runway 35 for take off.
C-5: Tower, What’s the height of that windsock?
Tower: Silence and after a few seconds “Stand by”
Tower: After a couple of minutes, “3 metres”
C-5: “Thank you” and turned onto the runway, looked like the wing missed the windsock by just a few centimetres.

Anyway he took off, but I wasn’t allowed to line up for a few more minutes as the beast did a 180 just after take off and did a low level fly by. Another day I didn’t have my camera!.

OpenYourMind3:27 pm 28 Sep 12

I watched one take off from Canberra Airport a while ago. It was carrying a few media joyriders. It lumbered down to the end of the runway and I expected it to need the whole length of the runway for take off. It seemed like it barely got moving, then it stood practically on its tail and leapt into the sky. Very surprised.

They’re designed to fly off short and rough runways.

Rather important for military aircraft.

HenryBG said :

Blah blah… I figured I don’t want to end up on the same list as Julian Assange so I refrained.

Thats cute that you don’t think you’re on that list already.

And on topic, they are massive beasts of planes: it’s hard to appreciate the scale until you watch one take off as it ponderously wallows into the sky. Kinda like an A380 but more epic.

Saw a C-5 Galaxy at Canberra Airport almost a decade ago which are slightly bigger than a 747-400.It looked bloody huge when viewed up close from the RAAF base!

Yeah, I was admiring these from behind the chain-link fence yesterday.

I was tempted to snap a couple of photos, but then I figured I don’t want to end up on the same list as Julian Assange so I refrained.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.