KC-10's and C-5's at Travis AFB

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scankid2591

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Are there KC-10's and C-5's based at Travis AFB? I was in Travis just a few weeks ago and I saw 3 KC-10's, 2 C-5's, and a C-17 flying and/or landing in the Travis AFB area... Are those based there? (I apologize that this isn't communications related, but where else would I post this?)
 

blackbird

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KC-10's

Just happened to be driving into Edmonton, AB (home of the Edmonton Oilers!) past the airport this afternoon and heard Primo 72 getting clearance home to Travis AFB. Don't what he was doing up here but it was a rare sight so I wheeled into the airport and watched him take off. His gross weight was 330,000 lbs. and he exceeded the max. weight for the proposed taxiway by some 8,000 lbs.
 

mikeh

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there has been C5 and kc10 at travis for years

travis is the hub west for west the west coast (mobity base )
there at least 15 kc10 stationed there all year round and 10 to 20 C5

the east coast Mobity base is dover that is why you see body from IRAQ
coming home there.
 

CLB

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KC-10's, C-5's and lately 13 (I believe) C-17's are stationed at Travis.

Only reason I know this is that we had a MSgt transfer over there from Charleston AFB to work on 17's. Far cry from over 50 stationed in Charleston.....Where I live 3 miles from the end of rwy 21 and they pass 1000' over my house daily haha.

Hint: You'll know a C-5 when you hear it. Probably the most distinctive aircraft noise in the world.
 

N4UYV_Al

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CLB said:
Hint: You'll know a C-5 when you hear it. Probably the most distinctive aircraft noise in the world.

Yup, they fly over my workplace in Chicopee out of Westover just about everyday & you always get the same response from people, "Looks like it should drop outa the sky like a stone"...
Years ago, I had a friend that worked the overnight shift at Westover (before 9-11) that would get me on base & fly the C-5 simulator.. I logged more VFR time on that thing than most of the pilots...lol
 

studgeman

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Now imagine having a base full of C5s KC135s and B52s.... AH those were the days!!!! You could stand under a plane landing, it would only be about 50 feet up at that point.
 

CLB

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N4UYV_Al said:
Years ago, I had a friend that worked the overnight shift at Westover (before 9-11) that would get me on base & fly the C-5 simulator.. I logged more VFR time on that thing than most of the pilots...lol


Interesting you mention that....I've gotten a few hours on the C-17 sim at Charleston.

Damn huge plane flies better than ANY Cessna I've ever flown. Actually it practically flies itself!
 

N4UYV_Al

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CLB said:
Interesting you mention that....I've gotten a few hours on the C-17 sim at Charleston.

Damn huge plane flies better than ANY Cessna I've ever flown. Actually it practically flies itself!

lol...although, in-flight refueling on the C-5, I could never get the hang of...I had people in the simulator gettin nauseous from swaying back & forth...lol
 

CLB

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I know how they feel.....I've never been the least airsick until I sat in the flight engineer's seat waiting for my turn at the controls.

That crap is realllllllllllllll looking!
 

okccsi

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blackbird said:
Just happened to be driving into Edmonton, AB (home of the Edmonton Oilers!) past the airport this afternoon and heard Primo 72 getting clearance home to Travis AFB. Don't what he was doing up here but it was a rare sight so I wheeled into the airport and watched him take off. His gross weight was 330,000 lbs. and he exceeded the max. weight for the proposed taxiway by some 8,000 lbs.

The loadmaster for that flight had some balls then. My brother was a loadmaster hereat Tinker before he got his boom operator quals, and he would not sign off on crap if it was over a set limit.

OKC CSI
 

studgeman

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I wasn't speaking of Westover. Sorry for the confusion. I grew up in the shadow of Griffiss. Those planes were all residents of Griffiss at the same time.
 

studgeman

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well for transients they were there an aweful lot... like all the time. I am too young to know who they were exactly assigned to, but they were always in town. Still could have officially been transient though.
 

b52hbuff

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C-5's & B-52's were always assigned to different commands. So they would never be hosted at the same base at the same time. Travis used to be a SAC base (B-36, B-52) and then transitioned to C-5s. I don't know of any AMC/MAC bases that transitioned the other way.

The C-5's could have come in to support the local Army base. Is it Ft. Drumm?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-drum.htm
 

studgeman

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Yes Ft. Drum is about 2 hours north, and the 10th mountian div. would deploy through Griffiss. My assumption is that is one of the main reasons why Griffiss ALWAYS had C-5s on the base, as the 10th Mountian is fast reaction force. I remember when they deployed the 10th Mountain to the Gulf for the first time round. The C-5s had such a load in them, they shook the ground for about 2-3 miles away. Now exactly who they were assigned to and where their command was, I dont' know, but they were there, ALL the time. This goes back to the point of my origional post, WOW some of the largest planes in the military all at the same place. It was really quite a spectacle to see all of them in one place on a regular basis. When they decommissioned Griffiss in '95 our C-5s went to Dover, the B52s and KC135s were split up mostly between McGuire, Minot and Barksdale. Still to this day, I still know a B52 when I hear it. It has an unmistakable whine in the engines.

Just as a side note, if you ever get a change to catch the military channel's Firepower show where they do the B-52, most of the footage is from about 1993 at Griffiss, there are a couple of shots of C-5s and KC-135s on the Ready Pads. I was amazed at the footage and interviews they had, it was a really excellent program.
 
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