Fairchild C-119C Flying Boxcar (3138)

The C-119 was a major redesign of the Fairchild C-82 Packet, with more powerful engines and a larger cargo compartment featuring the same rear loading, straight through cargo area as the C-82. It could carry 45 paratroopers or 35 litters or up to 15,000 pounds of cargo and saw extensive service in the Korean War, flying from bases in Japan. They were also used to transport supplies to the Arctic for the construction of the "DEW Line" chain of air defense radar stations. Some were modified with an upward-hinged beaver tail cargo door and designated C-119J, some of which were used for midair retrieval of imagery packages from orbiting Corona satellites using a "trapeze" apparatus suspended from the open rear cargo door. In 1966, 26 C-119Gs and 26 C-119Ks were modified as gunships designated as AC-119s and were used in the Vietnam War. C-119s were also used by the U.S. Navy, the Marines, Italy, Belgium and India. The last C-119 was retired from the Air Force in 1975. The C-119 at Castle Air Museum served with a Troop Carrier Group in Germany, then with the Air National Guard until it was retired and transferred to the U.S. Forest Service where it was used as a fire-fighting borate bomber. While in that service, it had a small turbojet engine fitted on top of the center fuselage.