C-119 Flying Boxcars...

Now that we've hashed over the B-29, has anyone on this board had any experiences with the C-119 Flying Boxcar? Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q.

I spent a fair amount of time on them, mostly as a passenger. They were noisy and rode rough. They had a glide path like a brick, and the only thing that kept
them in the air was the two R-3350's.

For their type of aircraft, they did have a fairly high cruising speed, which shortened the time you had to be on one. It was startling to see them reverse the
props and back up into an area to be loaded.

Dang, wrong forum again.

I saw one up close at a local grass strip. In about 1960. It had electrical issues and needed to get out of the air. The strip is still there. Then called Bodine's Airport locally. About 4800ft of grass. Jim

In the late '90's there was massive flooding on the Koyukyk River in Northern Alaska. So much of the Allakaket runway was destroyed FEMA hired the last airworthy C-119C to bring in a small John Deere with a blade. I got to watch as they fired up the two R-4360's (I was told they were 4360s) and the jet engine on top of the fuselage. Lots of smoke and lots of noise, for sure! That plane fairly leapt off the runway on takeoff.

I flew with pilots who had flown them. The R4Q was referred to as the ''Are fork you''. A later version, the R4Q2 was called the ''Are fork you too''. (;>))

Not at all. Jerry told us about a tractor with a blade being delivered by one.

The AF flew them in Southeast Asia dropping flares. I can't remember for sure but I think they were called the Blind Bats. Painted all black.

Sorry guys...a long shaggy dog story. 1964, brand new 1st LT., completed T-37, T-38, and C-130 schools. Just arrived at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. My C-130 instructor was a former 119 instructor, thus I had heard all the C-119 stories ever told. I was told to meet an airplane Sunday morning for transport to Ft. Benning, GA. Sunday morning two crusty old sargents showed up with a Jeep and a trailer and informed I was to be ground safety officer for Ft. Benning Jump School. When I saw a C-119 on final, my heart fell. As he taxied onto the ramp to make a 180 turn he engaged the left brake. The only way I can describe it, it sounded like a bull elephant dying in a hail storm. Oil was dripping off number one engine and turning the ramp black. Crew door opens and two full Col. walk out with a guy in a Hawaiian shirt following them. He opened the engine cowling and reached up with his bare hand and did something and shouted, load it up and we will be ready. He then drew two gallons of gasoline from the wing sump and throws it into the engine, closes the cowling and says, start number 2. I'm not very smart, but I know you don't throw gasoline on a hot engine and then start it. They aborted the first take-off because of a misfire on number two engine. Returned to the end of the runway and make a rolling take-off without even doing an engine run-up. All the way through the take-off run and climb out number 2 engine continues to misfire occasionally. They flew the airplane that way for the whole week at Ft. Benning Jump School. Next Sunday the Col. gave me 30 minutes of stick time in the 119. The Col. said he would let me land except they were having trouble with that right engine. That was a week to remember.

Built at Willow Run in the former Ford B-24 bomber plant, about 8 miles from my house. Kaiser-Frazer cars were also being built there during C-119 production. To make this tractor related, there were many Ford tractors on the Ford farm property before the bomber plant was built. There were also many of them used during the construction.

Is that the same plane as used in The Flight of the Phoenix?

I do not recall any C-119's used to drop flares but plenty of C-47's were used dropping flares and a lot were converted to Magic Dragons.

Ok we'll make it tractor related.

Many, many years ago I enjoyed watching a movie whereby a winter blizzard kept ranchers from using their tractors to pull wagons filled with square bales out to feed their stock. The ranchers petitioned the local military establishment...forget if ANG or whomever, to fill up a flying boxcar with hay and fly it out to the unaccessible fields. So they did and the cows got fed. Pictures taken inside the cargo compartment with doors removed or locked open revealed what must have been a chilling experience for the guys kicking the bales out the door. I enjoyed the movie very much even though I was an urban youngster.

A thought just hit me......I wonder if the wire or string containing the bales caused equipment/animal injury problems later or got policed up.

Some did flare drops and some even were made into gunships.

Growing up there was an air base, Bakalar, near Columbus Indiana. They used to fly these out of there. The base was active from 1942 to 1970 and was a training field for the C-46 and C-47 planes. During WWII it was known as Atterbury which is still used for the Army.