Navigating the C-124 Globemaster: In the Cockpit of America's First Strategic He

The Nile on eBay   Navigating the C-124 Globemaster by Billy D. Higgins

Drawing on coast-to-coast visits to archives, Air Force bases, libraries and accident sites, and his own recollections as a navigator, the author details Cold War confrontations and consequent strategies that emerged after Douglas Aircraft Company delivered the first C-124A to the Military Air Transport Service in 1949.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

The C-124 Globemaster--a U.S. military heavy-lift transport in service 1950 through 1974--barreling down a runway was an awesome sight. The aircraft's four 3800 hp piston engines (the largest ever mass-produced), mounted on its 174-foot wingspan, could carry a 69,000-pound payload of tanks, artillery or other cargo, or 200 fully equipped troops, at more than 300 mph. The flight crew, perched three stories above the landing gears in an unpressurized cockpit, relied, like Magellan, on celestial fixes to navigate over oceans. With a world-wide mission delivering troops and materials to such destinations as the Congo, Vietnam, Thule, Greenland and Antarctica, the Globemaster lived up to its name and was foundational to what Time magazine publisher Henry Luce termed the "American Century." Drawing on archives, Air Force bases, libraries and accident sites, and his own recollections as a navigator, the author details Cold War confrontations and consequent strategies that emerged after Douglas Aircraft Company delivered the first C-124A to the Military Air Transport Service in 1949.

Author Biography

Billy D. Higgins teaches history at the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith.

Table of Contents

Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface Introduction  1. "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth…": Rolling Takeoffs 2. "Rush by air": Building an Aluminum Overcast 3. "The West Point of the Air": Undergraduate Navigator Training 4. "Ike's Bluff": The Cold War and Civil Wars 5. "Hairy conditions": Over the Oceans 6. "Birthplace of Winds": From Attu to Zaire 7. "The Right Stuff": Crewing Old Shaky 8. "Fate Is the Hunter": Mountains and Thunderstorms 9. "Sorry 'bout that": Korea and Vietnam10. "The backbone of airlift": EpilogueAppendix: C-124 Globemaster Accidents Involving Loss of Life or Loss of AirplaneChapter Notes Bibliography Index

Review

"Navigating the C-124 Globemaster is a serious and important work, equal parts aviation/navigation history and old-fashioned travelogue. The writing gurus are always talking about the textural imperative of storytelling...sights, sounds, smells, tastes. Well, mission accomplished, it's all there. Reading this work, I felt like I was in that bubble and cockpit with Lt. Higgins and crew, out in the netherworld of the Pacific or reversing engines in a typhoon of dust on a makeshift runway at Pleiku, Vietnam. An adventure in aviation not to be missed."—Phil Karber, two-time Lowell Thomas medalist and author of Postmarks from a Political Traveler; Fear and Faith in Paradise: Exploring Conflict and Religion in the Middle East and The Indochina Chronicles: Travels in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

Review Quote

" Navigating the C-124 Globemaster is a serious and important work, equal parts aviation/navigation history and old-fashioned travelogue. The writing gurus are always talking about the textural imperative of storytelling...sights, sounds, smells, tastes. Well, mission accomplished, it's all there. Reading this work, I felt like I was in that bubble and cockpit with Lt. Higgins and crew, out in the netherworld of the Pacific or reversing engines in a typhoon of dust on a makeshift runway at Pleiku, Vietnam. An adventure in aviation not to be missed."--Phil Karber, two-time Lowell Thomas medalist and author of Postmarks from a Political Traveler; Fear and Faith in Paradise: Exploring Conflict and Religion in the Middle East and The Indochina Chronicles: Travels in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

Details ISBN1476677638 Author Billy D. Higgins Year 2019 ISBN-10 1476677638 ISBN-13 9781476677637 Format Paperback Subtitle In the Cockpit of America's First Strategic Heavy-Lift Aircraft Place of Publication Jefferson, NC Country of Publication United States DEWEY 358.4483 Short Title Navigating the C-124 Globemaster Language English AU Release Date 2019-07-26 NZ Release Date 2019-07-26 UK Release Date 2019-07-26 Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Imprint McFarland & Co Inc Pages 219 Audience Age 18 Publication Date 2019-08-09 Illustrations 59 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index Audience Professional & Vocational US Release Date 2019-08-09 We've got this

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