C-119G Flying Boxcar – Air Mobility Command Museum (2024)

Interesting about snagging satellites. I was an assistant crew chief with EB-47E that gave coordates to the C-119 crew that recovered our first satellite. It was in base ops window at Hickam after recovery.

Sorry I’m late to the discussion: I find two C-119s involved, colliding- listed are 53-3222 with 19 casualties- killed. *And: 53-7841, with 49 casualties killed. Not 100% sure on the casualty count vs each aircraft- Daniel Sanchez was s/n US 54 145 328. Co.A of 499 Engineer Battalion. The crash was listed as 1-mile west of Edelweiler Germany. 11 August 1955

In 1963 I was TDY from Ft. Bragg to Ft. Sam Houston. Twice during my months at Ft Sam, we jumped from C-119s to maintain our jump status. As I remember, the planes we jumped were assigned to an Air National Guard unit. I believe we flew out of Kelly Field and remember that our DZ was the then-closed Camp Gary. They dropped us over the concrete runway.

One jump was uneventful. The other one saw our plane struggle to gain elevation. The side doors were open on takeoff and I could look out and watch the ground. The plane engines were making a sound strange enough to catch the attention of the GIs on board. We became concerned when the Air Force crew chief started running to the door to look out (at the engines?). Then, things settled down and the plan began gaining altitude.

In jump school we were trained in the event of being hung up on the tail to signal whether we wanted to be cut loose to use our reserve chute or to not so signal and then to ride the plane down to landing upon a foamed runway. Supposedly, this was geared particularly towards the C-119.

Those two jumps were my only experience with the C-119 and I thereafter didn’t miss that plane one bit.

I was a radio operator on the C119 in 1953 to 1957 at Smyrna, TN, Charleston, SC, Johnson AFB in Japan and Pope AFB, NC. Flew 1143 hours. Was able to fly over all the states, landed in most, except Hawaii; had to wave that one from a troop ship on the way to Japan. Made trips to many Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Canada, Japan, Okinawa, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and a few I may have forgotten. Had a few close encounters that could have ended in tragedies. Got to experience winter type conditions in Anchorage, Alaska for a month; summer time in Fairbanks for a month landing up and down a mountain radar station. I enjoyed flying and kept two B4 bags ready for back to back flights. Round-robin flights were okay, especially on a snowy day above the clouds watching snow cover the grounds below. On a cold day in Tennessee, to land in warm Florida. I was getting close to re-enlistment when the C119s were being replaced by the C130s. On leave, I made eye contact with the girl I ended up marrying; love at first sight! I decided I would return to college and raise a family in civilian life. I thought the C130 would not need a radio operator; I later found out I could have continued as a radio operator until I retired. Later, I understand that the C130 no longer needed a radio operator or a navigator. My son graduated as a civil engineer and spent 38 years as an engineer at Lockheed/Martin in Georgia in the C130 program, retiring two years ago. I’ve met lots of people who had experienced the C119 and C130 airplanes. Lots of paratroopers as well. Glad I served.

My Dad was on the ground with the Marines of the 7th Regiment under the command of Col Litzenberg. He told me stories of the C-119’s dropping supplies and how he wished he was in the USAF!

I was a flight engineer on the C-119G aircraft and was stationed at WGNAS in Pennsylvania. We had our training sessions at Niles, Ohio and had formations that probably flew over your area making simulated air drops with the “slingshot drop system” and there was a big lake on the Pennsy/Ohio border that we obviously used as a landmark flying north to south. Beautiful country out that way. The formations were usually at low altitude on the approach and drop zones. That was back in the 1960s. I had just shy of 1,000 hours in the air back then.

I was a loadmaster on C-119 in the 349th Troop Carrier Squadron USAFRes at Hamilton AFB when we were called to active duty in the Cuban Missile Crisis. I lost my fear in my first flight when my boss, who was standing at the end of the floor with the clamshell doors off at about 15,000 feet motioned me to walk back and join him which I did.

It took us three days to get to Pope AFB because we flew first to Sacramento, then March AFB where we overnited, then Little Rock AFB where we also overnited, and finally Pope. One night there they woke us up at 3 a.m. and told us to report to our planes. I knew things were serious when I heard one Captain tell the guy filling the wing tanks “make sure you have enough gas to get to Cuba.”

In spring of 1963 we went to Boise for UTA and when not flying was assigned to drive a 6-ton wrecker we used to retrieve the pallets with six 55-gallon drums with water that were air dropped.

Had another scary moment when the pilot asked me to stay aboard for a single-engine takeoff and landing at Hamilton. Upon takeoff I noticed smoke out of #2 engine and notified the pilot. He said it was probably oil smoke. Then, when we turned for final approach, I saw fire out of #1. Tower had also noticed flames and had foam on the runway.

Alan Hardman, it may have been us.

The C-119 had disc brakes on the main gear. A circular group of metal pad-like rotors, connected together, that were fitted into slots on the holder assy on the hub

I was reading the information about the C-119 . I was a flight engineer on the C-119G at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. I have more that 1,500 hours in the bird. The power plant was W3350-89A . The airplanes did not have the R4360-20. The plane that had that engine was the C-124,because I was a flight engineer on that airplane also.

Thank you

Dennis Jacobs

Dennis, I suspect you may have had some involvement in some of my adolescent memories! Sometime during the early-to-mid ’60s, I saw many, many formations of C-119s overfly my home in SW Idaho. They invariably flew in a wnw direction, appearing to be flying from the Mountain Home/Boise area and continuing over the horizon toward Portland or maybe Seattle/Tacoma. IIRC, the formations ranged from 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes multiple formations per day. Was that you?