Dover, DE — The Air Mobility Command Museum is now the only place in the United States where one can see a complete set of every significant Lockheed airlifter built since World War II.
That can be said since Tuesday when the museum at Dover Air Force Base received a C-60 Lodestar airlifter.
The collection of Lockheed airlifters includes the C-121, C-130, C-141 and C-5, said Michael Leister, director of the AMC Museum.
The newly acquired C-60 was transferred from the Robins Air Force Base Museum in Georgia as part of a downsizing plan.
“They were going to get rid of this airplane,” Mr. Leister said. “We knew that it fit our mission and after some negotiations, the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Ohio approved the transfer.
“In the world of collecting aviation history it’s getting harder to find World War II aircraft that are still available, and by getting the C-60 this makes this the only place to have this collection.
“To have the most significant collection of a specific type of airplane in Dover is pretty cool.”
The Lodestar series of aircraft was developed to compete with the Douglas C-47/DC-3 Skytrain, but the Army Air Force purchased about 400 Lockheeds in comparison to more than 10,000 C-47s.
“It wasn’t completely successful because the C-47 was there first and got a lot of the airline contracts,” Mr. Leister said. “The C-60 filled a need and was a backup during World War II because during the war we bought a lot of different fighters and bombers to fit different needs.”
Some of the C-60s were assigned to the Air Transport Command and used for paratroop training. Some were used to haul freight and passengers or general utility service, said Mr. Leister.
The entire C-60 complete with both engines and in-board wing was able to fit in a C-5’s cargo compartment to transfer the plane to the AMC Museum.
It took four days to disassemble the plane and three days to load and unload the parts.
Read more: http://delaware.newszap.com