Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar

Most people recognize movie stars that are human; I tend to recognize movie stars that are airplanes.

Back in 2005, Gene Powers, of Hawkins & Powers, Greybull, Wyoming, made several passes down runway 30 at Mojave Airport in a rare Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar," for a Western Union television commercial.

Other nicknames for the C-119 are: the "Dollar Nineteen" and the "Flying Spam Can." The original aircraft was designated a C-82 and was designed by North American Aviation as a heavy cargo lifter during World War II. In 1946, Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation took over the project.

The C-82 was underpowered with Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines, and modifications were needed to strengthen the tail booms. After numerous modifications to the airframe, plus the addition of Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines, with four bladed propellers, the new aircraft was given its own designation of C-119. The U. S. Air Force ordered 55 aircraft in 1948-1949. More than 1100 C-119s were built from 1947 to 1955.

Powers C-119 has two Wright R-3350 engines and three-bladed propellers that were reversible. He actually backed the airplane up and repositioned the big cargo plane when the director wanted to reshoot a scene. The Pratt & Whitney J34-34 turbojet engine on top of the fuselage was originally flown on a P2V Neptune.

The C-119 had huge clam shell doors in the back of the fuselage. The twin booms enclosed the clamshell door and that allowed equipment to be loaded straight in, or vehicles could be driven up a ramp. The high-wing, twin boom design also meant that the cargo compartment had no obstructions - it was maximized for cargo.

The Boxcar, which some also called the "Packet," was a real workhorse. It performed a variety of missions, ranging from the true transport of people and cargo from one point to another to ground attack.

C-119s saw service in Korea and Vietnam as cargo ships, medivac aircraft, air dropping Special Forces and even as gun-ships (AC-119K Shadows and Stingers). If you are interested, there is a book entitled, "Shadows of Saigon: Air Commandos in Southeast Asia" by Elton Fletcher. The book blends fact and fiction to tell the story of Air Commando covert Special Operations in Cambodia after the American Incursion in 1970.

C-119s were pressed into service again as fire bombers by companies like Hawkins & Powers. I remember watching the C-119 take off from William J. Fox Field in Lancaster in the mid 1970s. I swear, even with the jet engine running, they barely got off the ground and used every inch of runway!

Powers C-119 appeared in the remake movie, "Flight of the Phoenix". It was flown from Greybull, Wyo. to Namibia, South Africa for the filming. The flight took 75 hours to complete, via Capital City Penn.; Halifax, Nova Scotia; St Johns, Newfoundland; the Azores; the Canary Islands; Dakar in Senegal; Libreville and finally, Walvis Bay, Namibia.

In the original 1965 movie, parts from C-82As from Long Beach, Calif. were used to make the Phoenix aircraft. The aerial camera ship was a B-25J Mitchell. The flying sequences were flown by Paul Mantz, co-owner of Tallmantz Aviation, filling in for his partner Frank Tallman, who had shattered his kneecap during a fall while pushing his son's go-kart.

The model aircraft, which was actually registered with the FAA, had a wingspan of 45 feet, the fuselage length was 42 feet, and the "Phoenix" was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 nine-cylinder radial engine, taken from a North American T-6, as were the wheels and several other parts. The wings were from a Beech C-45, and the wing, tail, and undercarriage wire bracing was made out of clothesline, and was intentionally made to look flimsy, although it was actually quite sturdy. The fuselage and empennage were all hand-built from scratch, using plywood over a wooden frame. The cockpit was shallow and makeshift. The pilot sat down, while the stuntman stood behind him, strapped to a stringer.

Paul Mantz was flying the machine that was "made of the wreckage" and was performing touch-and-go landings for the camera. On one touchdown, he landed hard, the fuselage buckled and the movie model broke apart, cartwheeled, and unfortunately, killed Mantz. The stuntman on board was thrown clear of the aircraft and sustained serious injuries.

The original film was made in 1965 and Jimmy Stewart starred as Capt. Frank Towns. In the remake, Dennis Quaid has the role of Capt. Towns.

In my research for this article, I ran across this quote - What is the cause of most aviation accidents? "Usually it is because someone does something too much too soon, followed very quickly by too little too late." – Steve Wilson, NTSB investigator, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, August, 1996.

See you on our next flight!