C-74 at Westover 1951

[Jerry O'Neill]

I thought some of you might like to see the only photo that my Father had taken of a C-74 Globemaster. It was taken at Westover AFB, Chicopee, MA on August 9, 1951.



My Dad, Capt. John J. O'Neill MD, (on the left in the pic) was a Flight Surgeon in the USAF at the time and was stationed at Westover for a while. He has a few other images of RB-17G's, C-54's, C-47, and C-97's, but he didn't take many slides when he was in. I'll post a couple more in a few days if anybody is interested.
Blue skies,
Jerry

Last edited by Jerry O'Neill on Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Warhawk]

Stairway conversion of a CCKW. Now that would make for a great aircraft accessory.

[TimAPNY]

That is a cool picture, I'm not sure I knew there was a C-74.

Tim

[PhantomAce08]

That is a cool picture, I'm not sure I knew there was a C-74.

Same here... Great picture though!

[Jerry O'Neill]

The Douglas C-74 was the pre-cursor to the C-124. It started out life with dual, bubble canopies, on over each left and right cockpit seat. They later modified them to the traditional "greenhouse" flight deck arrangement.

I think they only produced 10 or so C-74's before they modified the design and added a second floor to the cargo area when it then became the C-124 Globemaster.
The C-74's passed on into obscurity.
Jerry

[woofaero]

One made it to the civil market I think it it had Two bubble looking canopy's on the top side the magizine said that it was later scraped at Oakland CA.

Mike
woofaero

[Chris Brame]

Here's some video captures from the movie "The Italian Job" (1969) in which one of the civilian C-74s appears as a Chinese transport - note how the cockpit enclosure has been altered to a more conventional style, and also the close-ups of its cargo elevator.

[Cking]

. I'll post a couple more in a few days if anybody is interested.

We are always interested! Thanks

Rgds Cking

[woofaero]

The cockpit layout is probably what I was thinking of. I was A dummy and did not mention the picture I saw was only a side view.


Mike

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Only 14 Globemaster I's were built, c/n 13913 thru 13926.
Two crashed, c/n 13914 (USAAF, 05Aug1946) and c/n 13915 (Aeronaves de Panama HP-385, 09Oct1963).
The one used in the movie "The Italian Job", c/n 13920, seems to have been destroyed by fire on 24Sep1970, in Milan; and the fate of the only one which may have survived accidents, being scrapped or otherwise, is unknown (to me at least): c/n 13917 was converted to YC-124 in 1949. and reserialed 48-795.

It's a pity none was preserved for posterity.

Cheers,

[P-Screamer]

Chris,

What software did you use for the video captures?

Kev.

[a26invader]

Chris,

What software did you use for the video captures?

Kev.

Kev, I have previously used a programme called FRAPS.

Re. C-74 have a look at this book
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~21758.aspx

Great story about the only civilian company that operated the C-74.

/Nicolai

[Chris Brame]

What software did you use for the video captures?

My computer (Compaq Presario) came with InterVideo WinDVD Player; it has frame-by-frame with still capture which makes and saves good Bitmap images to my photo files. Then I use ArcSoft Photo Studio (which came with my Canon scanner) to convert the images to jpegs, then use its Auto Enhance feature to lighten them. It's necessary to convert them to jpegs first, because when I enhance a Bitmap image it looks very posterized (and they don't seem to be postable here anyway, at least with Photobucket).

Thanks for the great shot of the MATS C-74 from 1951 and the great shots of the last civilian C-74 in Italy in 1969.

It is a real shame that the last one was not preserved for the USAF Museum in Ohio. I am not sure if the Museum was not as dedicated to preserving one example of each Air Force a/c in those days, or if it was just an airplane that was "off the radar" so to speak.

At least the one of a kind XC-99 has been moved to Dayton and will be restored.

Jim C.