Last flight of C-133 61999, Alaska to Travis AFB

[Music] oh oh final [Applause] [Applause] [Music] how hey so okay [Music] whether you change so tell us about the journey of this 1c c-133 this c-133 uh as the air force knew it is six one triple nine came off the line in december of 57 went to dover air force base delaware and except for a period in 1960 from february to november when it was at travis it was at dover for the for its entire service life it was uh used for all kinds of missions hauling groceries to thule greenland uh large cargo to shatter of france uh heavy equipment into vietnam during the vietnam war finally in 1971 the air force retired the airplanes and this airplane was sent initially to davis-monthan air force base for to be salvaged it was then bought by uh an outfit known as a foundation for airborne relief they were going to convert four c-133s into flying ambulances that proved to be an extremely important expensive process and the airplanes were never modified finally maurice carlson and bob scholten in anchorage alaska bought this airplane they foresaw a use of the airplane hauling the the 48 inch pipe it was used to build the alaska pipeline so it was put back in air-worthy condition and moved to alaska in 1978 unfortunately because the airplane was never certified by the federal aviation administration for civilian operations they were not able to haul the pipe and ended up flying as what is known as a government aircraft the primary customer being the state of alaska during the years in alaska they hauled a variety of things dump trucks road graders large house trailers that were used for various purposes in different parts of alaska even at one time there was a contract to move 90 school buses all over the state of alaska because driving them on the road from anchorage to gnome for example is is impossible finally uh the airplane has pretty much reached its 19 000 hours of airframe life so earlier this year 2008 mr carlson operating as cargomaster incorporated sent a letter to the travis air museum uh expressing his interest in donating the airplane to the museum and after quite a bit of work both administrative and maintenance wise the airplane was put in shape the director of the travis museum mr terry duran took new insignia to anchorage so that the airplane was remarked with the air force insignia and it left anchorage at about noon on the 28th of august of 2008 flying first to mccord air force base in washington and then it will depart mccord to go to travis on the morning of the 30th of august there it will be the opening act in the travis air expo it will make several low passes possibly one in conjunction with a c-17 then it will land taxi up before the crowd do its final engine run and shut down and that will end the life uh the operational life of all c-130s which have proved which proved to be invaluable for many years to haul heavy and outsized cargo for the united states air force so uh briefly tell us very briefly tell us what makes the c-133 unique to aviation history the c-133 is unique in aviation history and military air transport because it was the first airplane to adopt the high wing low cargo deck configuration which enabled easy loading direct from a truck or other loading vehicle onto the airplane in this way such cargo as international intercontinental ballistic missiles tanks large trucks could be loaded easily and offloaded and transported to wherever they needed to be used until the c5 came along the c-133 was the only airplane that could haul loads as heavy as eighty or ninety thousand pounds on at least shorter legs and a typical mission was thirty was forty five thousand pounds over a leg of thirty five hundred nautical miles okay so this is a very historical event this is the last flight of the plane how do you feel about this i feel about this last flight as probably all other c-133 people do that finally the airplane is getting the recognition that it really never had in its 15-year service with the air force and we're very happy to see the airplane finally ending up to be preserved in a museum collection rather than being cut up and as we used to say turned into tunicans can you very briefly tell me about your military career with this aircraft i came to the c-133 from an assignment in thailand i was stationed at travis air force base with the 84th military airlift squadron as a navigator i spent 27 months at travis and about 18 over water missions to vietnam in most cases a couple of missions to australia hauling heavy cargo that was needed by either the combat forces in vietnam or the various other customers that had a very large or very heavy piece of equipment to be moved when the airplanes were retired then i went over to the the c5 and continued my flying career in that airplane the c-133s were stationed not only at travis with what later became the 60th military airlift wing but also at dover two squadrons the first and the 39th airlift squadrons operated all of the c-133a models at travis we had the b models which were the ones capable of loading the icbms so there were three squadrons of people on both sides of the country supporting dod missions all over the world the 33133 squadrons operated literally around the world moving high priority or heavy and outsized equipment to nearly every part of the world one mission went to antarctica numerous missions went to greenland all over africa all through the pacific anywhere that there was something big and heavy to be moved that's what the c-133 did thank you that's fine i can stop and yeah that jet's gonna swallow one so six one triple nine on the ground outward shut down for taxi colonel what's he doing he's got his outboard engine shut down because he only needs the inboards to taxi so the the follow me truck will meet him that's a sound no c-130 makes [Music] [Applause] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] um right now [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] i'll keep filming [Music] yeah i'll keep filming here michael [Music] so so so [Music] here we go and atu shuts down [Music] so uh right here oh i'm in trouble huh [Music] [Music] so okay can you open that up for me it's gonna get a picture there open the hatch to check the oil from the aft part of the nacelle nobody really nice this c-133 comes with a genuine alaska license plate now landing flight engineer ken kozlowski is uh checking conditions in the number four in the cell looks like a little oil on the left you have george radovich who flew loadmaster on this airplane for about six months and uh mike congdon one of the pilots brought the airplane down what happened today with the c-133 well uh it was a routine flight we were moving the airplane down to travis and stopped here to drop off some an engine for the museum and can't say anything special it's just a routine flight we flew down at 21 000 feet and uh pretty much just like any other flight weather was good you know we we were just a little over five and a half hours um did you have any special things to address on this flight nothing real special it's just another flight so so this is the last flight of this airplane how do you feel about that well we all have kind of mixed emotions about it we're it's it's good that it's going to a good home we'd kind of like to keep flying it but things have changed businesses has changed and so it'll be it'll be good that it's in a in a good home instead of going to the boneyard or scrap pile and it's just it's still flying we're anticipating a normal trip to down to travis and and uh what was your history with this plane well i uh started flying his co-pilot on it shortly after cargo masters got it flew with norm moldov who is a air force uh retired air force instructor and over the years i just got current in the airplane and then i've been flying as a captain on it for the last 20 years about and this it's a it's a straightforward airplane it's not a big no big surprises it's douglas it's well built so we've had not too many serious problems and just moved lots of freight with it what was your name tom carlson in your title title uh co-pilot okay how'd the flight go today really good smooth we didn't really need problems at all um we had fairly decent weather mostly under casts uh all away smooth air so did you have any any uh issues leaving or any issues at all uh today uh no not really everything went really good today yesterday was a little hectic for the uh check flight and so forth we had a little bit of electrical problems but those were solved you know and then that went real well and this morning everything just fell into place pretty good great um any special things you had to address on this flight at all anything i mean this thing when was last time this thing flew april of 2006 so you took care of all those issues before the flight you didn't have any issues during the flight down here no not really not none at all you know uh surprisingly went very well the uh airplane ran just beautifully and it usually does so uh this is the last flight of the plane it's a historic event how do you feel about that uh it's it's exciting that we're doing this you know and he's putting the airplane to rest in a good home down in travis it's also sad that sleeve in alaska because that's been his home for 30 years and it did such a wonderful job up there moving freight in and out of the uh the villages out in the bush in the arctic slope um just unmatched by any of the airplanes up there but it's you know that part's sad but it's good that it's finding a good home have a good trip coming down yeah it was really nice and pretty uneventful you know the airplane great i made several journeys on these we don't have an autopilot so it's all hand flowing all the way down we never work together that's right yeah you know i was gonna ask you about kozlowski is he a civilian guy yeah yeah yeah he uh he was hired by my father um and he bought well long before he bought the air this airplane but he bought the first airplane the uh the b model and uh then when my father bought this airplane 78 he sent ski down to tucson to get it going and it's been skis baby ever since your dad was the owner of the midnight air command i call it i don't think i've heard it called that yeah we called it uh here cargo was it uh we had our same initials as max midnight air cargo or something oh yeah yeah anyway uh i had a friend uh jordan rydovich went up through the load master oil and little field white engineer that was on the first order yeah and norm moldov he was a pilot right yeah my father for many years yeah well for the airplane did really good we have one little electrical problem other than that uh she did really good for five hours five and a half hours actually it was the lake so it uh i'm real happy with it it uh it uh but it's always done this that's the thing no matter every time we bring it out to go fly it it always flies good so little problems you work with or work through and uh it's a you know it's a testament to the airplane great um so did you have any issues leaving or any issues uh no i guess i just had one little electrical problem and i'm gonna fix that tomorrow take about 20 minutes to fix it so other than that no everything's running good the props engines everything's working good so uh i can't complain at all i mean this makes my job a lot easier i don't want to be working on this thing too i just want to get it down there so um so this is the last flight of the plane very historic event how do you how do you feel about that you know you just spent five and a half hours in it how does it make you feel this might be the last this is the last well tomorrow will be the last flight well not two days saturday will be the last flight and that uh that's when it's going to hit you i mean this one was you know the first long flight and you're sitting here and you're just wondering what's going to happen and uh you know how the thing's going to react and now that we know it's flying good the next flight you're going to have a little time to reflect and uh when you make the last landing i think that's when it's going to really really hit us that it's all done with but uh i've been fortunate to fly with some great guys and uh fortunate to work on a great airplane okay is there anything else no no i'm not i'm just i'm pleased to be you know i'm glad this is going to museum i mean it's one thing i'm glad instead of getting chopped up into beer cans i'm glad it's going to a place where other people could enjoy it it's part of history and it's a good thing for it right okay man thank you so much how was it how was the trip today oh it was uh it was great i won uh going out with any other crew these guys are most familiar with this airplane i don't think anyone could fly this thing except for these guys especially the old man there that guy's got this thing down he's so smooth with them controls it's just amazing to watch this guy fly this thing and uh over the years i've been side by side with ski doing maintenance on this thing and uh just running through it he's the flight engineer on this thing and uh we've been working on it here for two weeks just non-stop trying to get this thing up and ready to make the air show down there in travis and um what was your job on this um basically to make sure the wheels were up and all the landing gear and just overlook skis work and uh i guess just helped load things down strap things down gone on a couple trips with them up uh up to the north slope up there in alaska delivering fire trucks and uh trash trucks out to all those uh villages up north and um it's amazing to fly this thing um yeah no tell me but it's amazing what's it like flying in this thing oh it's like nothing else so there's nothing to compare this thing to the last flight of this plane how does that make you feel you've been you've had some experience on this plane and does it make you feel today oh well it kind of hurt because i don't get to do it again you know i've always enjoyed getting out with these guys and delivering stuff with this thing it's uh you don't see too many of these things uh hauling freight or anything like that up there in alaska they got just smaller planes doing it and so we all decided to put my license plate on the back for uh just tribute to alaska to show proof it's been up there i guess so we put a little stamp of alaska on the back there but we were hoping we didn't get pulled over on takeoff because the expired tags all right and it's still up there so how'd it make you feel land did you run back there right away and make sure it was still there oh well i wasn't so anxious i was just anxious to get out of this plane long flight oh yeah it was it was real long and uh well i'll tell you what this is uh a lot a little hotter here than up there in alaska i'm pretty humid yeah i'm just not i've never been to california before so it's my first for me oh yeah you think this is hot yeah i'm waiting for travis they told me yeah point up to the just point up to the uh license plate there fuzzy one because it is a fuzzy one yeah okay awesome thank you very much uh it's kind of nice the compasses there used to be what's called a lorraine in this box but they've taken it out and replaced it with something else i got 1800 hours sitting in this seat before he's got the travis airplane and travis has got the dover airplane too much switching that's the way it works yeah yeah yeah the last airplane built at dover okay so but they said this one flew out of travis it was a travis from february to november of 60. there was a period when travis was building up so they you know they moved a few dover airplanes out to travis so that among other things people could get training while they built up the crew force and then by the time they got enough b models of travis then they ship this one back east and that's where it stayed but so she's a legitimate airplane absolutely absolutely too bad the world map isn't there but yeah things change yep oh really yeah they used to be when it came out of the factory there was a map showing the the mac or matt's military of transport service the routes that was on this wall the one at the one at dover still has it that's cool you know conversation site and he says hey we're thinking we'd like to hand some money and say well talk to jerry duran it gets eat it yeah well they they got a deal they got an air show deal with only 380 a gallon instead of six bucks okay okay we need to grab these people to interview them tony what's your call shot oh all right yep [Music] where is it [Music] oh all right [Music] how do you come up here with me okay all right all right [Music] [Music] [Music] jake kill your light okay you can wait till it comes out though [Music] this [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] tom i want to use it to pull it [Music] uh [Music] [Music] uh um okay let's put these over [Music] found a lot of use in moving cargo on and off the airplane was vital to towing the icbms and other heavy equipment in from the cargo engines okay um morning of 30 august ground power unit has started crews preparing for their departure to travis air force base unfortunately mount rainier won't be visible this morning and here you see one of the crew members hauling the last bit of gear out to the airplane [Music] there we see the outer pane of the window that was cracked on the way down unfortunately that's the outer panel cracked when it landed on the cord [Music] that's why windows are made with multiple panes and pilot mike congdon is checking the flip documents for preparing for the flight to travis [Music] looking out the copilot side window we'll see the south end of the runway departure today will be on runway one six basically straight out headed for travis engineer is checking his panel part kim kozlowski pilot tom carlson looking over the shoulder the fms is programmed ready to go engineer ken kozlowski is doing his internal pre-flight in the cargo compartment [Music] breaking the aft patch [Music] [Music] let's check on the upper surface of the wing for condition number one to sell [Music] [Music] been working this airplane for 35 years so his free flight is a lot shorter than the standard air force pre-flight which probably took most of an hour and out on the right wing number three engine so after the nearly to the tip of the right wing check on the condition of the vertical tail note how close the propeller tips are you can imagine what the interaction of the transonic shock waves coming off those propeller trips the tips can do in terms of vibration and noise ken's wife janice kozlowski is along on the trip here so so so so so so so so so so so get an idea how much these usually turn a little bit harder because they have generators just to feel what you're looking for anything sudden stoppage you know yeah yeah we'll kick it out of the way so it's uh so so the blades are check on the propellers the outside of the engine the latch is on the access response landing gear we'll check the horizontal surfaces and the tail cones see the apu exhaust pull the pins on the left side here and photographer michael now shadowing ken kozlowski check of the air intake to the apu and collect all the gear pins fill them with the aircraft [Music] a little frosty this morning not bad very pleasant morning to the final flight [Music] and checking in the nose gear compartment hold the nose gear fins now the shocks have been pulled but after the wheels i think that's roughly going back into the airplane now military days this cargo compartment would have been stuffed just totally full of equipment that t-34 engine and the towbar amount to [Music] before we take off [Music] aaron henderson is the fifth member of the crew conferring with tom carlson and ken kozlowski [Music] and the interior in the overheads just a maze of bundled wires running the full length of the airplane [Music] miles of wire all bundled up lower head hatch going up just after the center wing hey where the cargo deck meets the uh the ramp cargo deck was 90 feet long but there was extra space aft so that long cargo could actually overhang uh the ramp that went down and then the very rear was accessed through the rear bulkhead into the unpressurized portion of the fuselage and ultimately into the vertical stabilizer looking forward underneath the flight deck there's a crew bunk it was incredibly noisy in flight looked off and used to go baggage large yellow oxygen container for the oxygen system and forward over a small bulkhead was accessed to a variety of electrical and mechanical components just after the wheel well [Music] c-133 even hadn't enclosed the tree a little more comfortable in flight it also has a lockable compartment when the airplane is on the ground the truck is so valuable access to the flight deck was a five and a half foot ladder the navigator panel c133 navigators flew around the world backwards good morning over here near the nav seat was the sexpent mount celestial navigation was a very important part of operating this airplane and navigational equipment basically was not much more than had in world war ii side panel near the nav seat had radar controls number of circuit breakers uh intercom controls basic systems essential for the navigator navigator's instrument panel oh we're ready [Music] she's out talking about [Music] so hmm [Music] pilot mike condon walk around aaron henderson checking things out a little conference with shane kozlowski so so and there goes the apu shortly we'll see number one start i know the atu or the ground power well it's the beginning to run the checklist for engine start start number one the last change travis air force base 30 august so so so so so so so so power coming up august 2008. found echoing off the hanger off to my right [Applause] the airplane will disappear in the dip of the runway next time we see it will be on its departure hear the sound echoing off the hangers as it passes by can't really hear it from the airplane itself and we can just see the tail of the airplane as he moves into uh position for takeoff that characteristic sound of the end of the propellers power coming up rolling here he comes [Music] [Music] so oh yeah oh um right he's on the runway without delaying about he's landing on this is [Music] [Music] you

Channel: steve dmytriw

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Id: s02i9PgGkDA

Length: 90min 57sec (5457 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 26 2020