C-46 "war emergency" weight limit?

[Stephan Wilkinson]

The Curtiss C-46's max gross was 40,000 pounds, but I have seen references to its "war emergency" gross weight of 48,000 and even 50,000 pounds. I have heard of war emergency power, of course, but never war emergency weight. Are the 48,000/50,000-pound C-46 weights a myth, and is there actually something called "war emergency weight"? (I'm not talking about bush operator intentionally overloading an airplane, I'm asking if there is such an official military designation.)

[JohnB]

I've never heard of such a rating. I looked up the weight issue in my dad's C-47 "TO. 1C47-1". It makes n mention of a war emergency load.
It skirts the issue in a way that the FAA would not probably approve:

"Under conditions of extreme emergency, when safety of flight is of secondary impotence, the commander will determine whether the degree of risk warrants operation of the aircraft at gross weights appearing in the red zone (chart)."

[CAPFlyer]

"War Emergency" weights have been around for quite some time. I don't know about the C-46 specifically, but I know that the current fleet of Transports all have separate weight restrictions for peacetime and war. The "War" weight is the structural max payload weight, while the peacetime weight is restricted to limit the airframe wear. On the C-5 specifically, during "peacetime" the aircraft is restricted to a maximum ramp weight of 772,000lbs, however during "emergency war order" situations, that weight increases to 840,000lbs.

[b29flteng]

C-130H models had a peacetime GW of 155,000 lbs. while it's war emergency was 175,000 lbs. I flew one at 169,000 lbs. during Desert Storm and she flew like a dog.

[warbirdfinder]

When I flew C-46's for Zantop in 1965 we used 48,000 pounds as max. gross for T.O. There were times when we went out at 50 -51,000 #.

[hs748]

When I flew c-46 in Canada the gross weight was 48000lbs there was a conversion with R2800 cb engine of 2500hp auto feather and quick retracting gear that grossed at 54000lbs . We were close to that weight when we were loaded with 5/8 x 12 foot gyp rock instead of 1/2 x 8 foot the tail came up slow other than that it flew fine but it was cold -30c .

[Invader26]

B-25 MTOW was 34000lbs but flight manual allowed up to 44000lbs

[Chris Brame]

This reminded me of a crash I'd read about a long time ago; checked the ASN and it was C-46F 44-78635/N1244N, the one in 1960 that killed many members of the Cal Poly football team:

The aircraft took off from Toledo Express Airport on the return flight to San Luis Obispo, California, weighing approximately 2,000 lb more than its maximum certificated gross weight of 47,100 lb. The aircraft crashed approximately 5,800 feet from the threshold of the take-off runway, caught fire and was destroyed.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The accident was due to loss of control during a premature lift-off. Contributing factors were the overweight aircraft, weather conditions, and partial loss of power in the left engine."

http://aviation-safety.net/database/rec ... 19601029-1

[maradamx3]

C-130H models had a peacetime GW of 155,000 lbs. while it's war emergency was 175,000 lbs. I flew one at 169,000 lbs. during Desert Storm and she flew like a dog.

Please explain! What does "fly like a dog" mean? I think this is very interesting, as I have no idea how a C130 flies. I know how a C172 flies with 4 adults.

Thanks!

[b29flteng]

Flying like a dog, slow to accelerate, slow to climb, low cruise ceiling.

Below 120,000 lbs. a C-130 has spectacular performance.