Warbird Information Exchange

Imagine they would still be in climb or let down until well offshore, not a huge rate of climb. Also wonder if there was some effort to limit pressure cycles on the hull, thus keeping at lower altitudes for circuit work? Cracks were a known issue even before the catastrophic failure in 1970.

The C-133 seemed to be plagued with issues.
Odd, considering who built it. After all, Douglas held a near monopoly on military-specific (not converted airliners) long range transports with their reliable C-74/C-124 series and if anyone would have known how to build a large aircraft then, it was Douglas.

It would have been interesting to see how the C-132 would have turned out.

And although it's safety record seems to have been less than great, it would be interesting to see how it compared with large Soviet turboprop transports of the period. Wiki lists just two AN-22 crashes, (one recent and one civil-registered example lost over the Atlantic in the '70s -- that they had to admit to--but predictably, they list no military losses during the Cold War period, so there may be unreported crashes and mishaps).
I don't believe a Shorts Belfast was lost in RAF service, but their utilization was probably quite a bit less.

Good thing the C-141 was just around the corner.

_________________
Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.