Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar

I flew as flt engr on C-119J and G out of willow grove nas from 1957 to 1968. Had a few scary flights. Ate a bunch of thunder storms over the years. Many drop missions at pope and 101st at Kentucky. In mid 60's we ferried 22 119's from Langley VA to Agra India. Took us many stops and three weeks till we got back home by C-121 embassy flight. Loved all those years.

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Made my fist two jumps at the AirBorne School at Ft. Benning in Aug., 1970 out of the great airplane. Flown at the time by Texas Air National Guard. Loved the sight of the twin tail booms and the drop zone below as I exited the airplane. something I will never forget. Fred T. Brown, Jr., Col. (ret)

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Some of these aircraft were converted into the AC-119G gunships abd the 71st SOS out of Indiana took them to Viet Nam 1968. To read about this aircraft go to AC 119-G Gunships, they had an impressive record over there.

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4th Aerial Port Squadron 1954-1957. How I miss those days.
I arrived at Chatearoux,France in the early days of it's complition by the Army Engineers in 1954.I flew many missions as a Loadmaster /Dropmaster in C-119s and C-123's.
The C-119 was a hard working aircraft which was reliable and rugged.I remeber the tragic incident where the two C-119's collided over Germany in 1955. I was working in the 4th APS Space Control Office and received the unfortunate news. One of my friends "Tiny" was killed. He was the Loadmaster in one of the C-119's. We Loadmasters of the 4th APS were often redeployed through-out Europe 1954-1957 to establish depot operations for NATO . I spent time in Dreux,France and at Hahn AFB,Germany. The C-119 took me to many wonderful places in Europe and North Africa. I am extemely happy to have found this web-site enjoying all the comments forwarded about the C-119.

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Worked on the C-119F and C-119G aircraft.From 1953 - 1955.
Was based at Mitchell Field, Ny, then Sewart AFB, Smyrna, TN. Went along on paratroop drops and heavy equipment drops.
The aircraft had serious propeller problems. Because it had reverse pitch feature, zero pitch, runaway propellers were pretty common. With a runaway prop, the engines would usually disintegrate and take its respective wing with it.
Runaway propeller meant immediate bailout. Knew of a couple of planes that came apart in heavy turbulance. Their G load factor was quite low.

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I flew as a Navigator from 1971 to 1975 in the converted C119G from a 2 engine prop a /c to a three engine prop- cum - jet (Gnat Fighter a /c - Orpheus jet engine on top of the fuselage). In 1971 I flew over the Himalayas landing at some of the highest airfields in the World. It was indeed a fantastic aircraft.

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I was in the 326TCS at WGNAS from 1961-68. We flew the C-119G with the R-3350 engines and they did leak a little oil sometimes. We just carried a few extra 5 Gal. pails with us when we flew to locations without service. I got to take one to Vietnam from St. Augustine. It took 65 flying hours to get there on new engines with no hours. It only took 18 hours total to get back to Philadelphis by commercial A /C. I along with another reservist were the only ones with flying status. Everyone else was prior service or ARTS. I just can not find anything about the 326th or 327th TCS at Willow Grove. At the time I got out in late 68 we were broken up and C-130's were introduced to us and the rest were sent to McGuire or Dover to transition into C-141's and C-5's. I was to go into the C-141's at Dover but it was too far to travel every week. I have been to many of the bases I see mentioned in the comments but I see nothing about my unit from Willow Grove NAS. I did many flights to Pope to drop the troops from Ft. Braag and Lakehurst but can find nothing about the 326th and 327th.

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I MADE 13 JUMPS OUT OF THE C 119.55 - 58.ALSO JUMPED THE C 123 AND AN ARMY PLANE I BELEIVE WAS A DEHAVALAND OUTER.WAS MORE COMFERTABLE WITH THE 119.ALTHOUGH ALL OR MOST JUMPS WERE SCARY.

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was in the 317th TCW from1955-1958 and had the pleasure of many of flights in the old gal. worked in Elect. shop and Maint. Control

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Flew as crewman on boxcar during AFRes days in the early 60's out of Bakalar AFB Indiana. Our bird 009 (known affectionately as "Balls 9") had a near-perfect record of TO's and landings during many maneuvers and crises. The 119's were big, loud, slow and lumbering, but we always got there. Any still flying stateside?

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My father (Cosby Cottrell) worked for Fairchild Ariel Surveys for over 30 years and I think had something to do with this aircraft. He often talked about it. Wish I knew more

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Loved that bird, worked on the Instrument and auto-pilot systems from 57 thru 61 with the 336th TCS. One time we were flying from Key West to Panama, engines were started up and I'm still replacing vacuum tubes for the vertical channel of the auto-pilot system. Guys were always getting air sick so I would ask them if they were going to eat there box lunch. Would usually end up with a parka pocket full of sandwhiches, hardboiled eggs and fried chicken. God but I loved it, best time of my life.

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Made my first 5 jumps out of this aircraft Oct. 1968
Ft. Benning, Georgia

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I was a crewchief and on one of the check crews from 55 -57 .VMR-153 MAG-35 Cherry Point..

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I flew C models at Ashiya in '53-'54 in the 817th TCW, made 4 trips between there and Hagerstown, several trips to Haiphong from Clark AFB and flew shot-up ones back to the Clark, then flew G models at Charleston AFB. Had about 1200 hours in it. Thought it was a great aircraft to fly (usually). At 6'4" I loved the big flight deck. But the C models had no airborne escape if the cargo compartment was filled to the ceiling and wall to wall. Lost an engine three times but no sweat, twice we were empty. I can think of many bad situations but tocay they are good memories.

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chanute to learn 3350's> on to rhein-main a.f.b. germany= 60th troop carrier wing / 11th tcs 1951---1954

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I was with the 101 Airborne Division, 327 Battle Group, E Co. from 1962 to 1965. I broke my cherry on the C 119 and the plane could not get off the runway. The second time it did. I like it also because of the high tail wing and you could exit the plane almost straight out. Whenever we jumped with the C119 we held bets as to which stick exits the plane first.

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I flew the G model with 3350s for engines in Vietnam out of TSN (Saigon) during 1970. We started transitioning to Gary engines mid year and found them to be so unreliable that two low time Gary engines were not allowed on one airframe. I had 3 engine failures in tht year and 1 engine failure in the next 42 years. The radials sound nice but I like the reliable whine of a jet.

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I was with the 2233 AFRCTC, the active part of the 514 Troop Carrier wing. Based at Mitchel Field, Hempstead, Long Island. We had 52 C-119, 7 Goony birds, and 2 twin Beech C-45 aircraft. Our primary mission was training reservists. Several times a year we would fly to Pope, AFB in N.Carolina and drop the ground pounders, usually into the pine forest! My job was to maintain the radio and nav. gear.
I spent three wonderful years at Mitchel and got out one year before the base closed.

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Ashyia AB, Japan...1956-1958, I was a Crew Chief /Flight Mech on C-119G #982 & #864 with the 817th TCS. Then transfered to Wing Aircrew Standardization (Capt Davis, Major Stanley)in 1959. Then the Wing switched to the.C-130A. I then became Flight Engineer on the C-130. I believe in the 4 years there, we visited, supplied and /or para dropped on every island airstrip as well as supporting the Olympic Games in Melbourne. One of my highlights was flying Ethiopian Officers (and gear)from Korea to Ethiopia via India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia etal. One of our routine trips was from Ashyia to Guam (13 hrs in the C-119). Unbelivable today. We must have been nuts to volunteer for that trip as well as to the Phillipines.

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