Documentary C5 Galaxy 8pm C5 Tonight.

Documentary C5 Galaxy 8pm C5 Tonight.

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Laurel Green

Original Poster:

30,781 posts

233 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Hi chaps. Hope this isn't a re-post only I don't venture into this forum that often.

As per title. On Five this evening at 8; Megastructures. Documentary profiling the C5 Galaxy, the biggest plane in America's military arsenal. Able to fly non-stop to nearly any point on the globe.

Thought it worth a mention. smile

Eric Mc

122,053 posts

266 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Thanks for the alert.

The C-5 is still an impresssive beast - even over 40 years after it first flew.

Jonny671

29,398 posts

190 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Thanks, sounds good! smile

Flanders.

6,371 posts

209 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Thanks, I'm looking forward to it smile.

fadeaway

1,463 posts

227 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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thanks for the heads-up

Jonny671

29,398 posts

190 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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5 minutes chaps.

Flanders.

6,371 posts

209 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Its on!

FourWheelDrift

88,552 posts

285 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Mark Williams said:
Big, isn't it.

Laurel Green

Original Poster:

30,781 posts

233 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
Impressively so! yes

FourWheelDrift

88,552 posts

285 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
They still faffed around a lot getting the (small by comparison) F-16 engine in though hehe

Laurel Green

Original Poster:

30,781 posts

233 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
yes Making a C-5 out of a Spitfire.

Eric Mc

122,053 posts

266 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
Interesting - sort of. The narration did seem to be aimed at 7 year olds.

Why did he keep calling it the Galaxy C-5? It's never referred to in that way. It's actually the C-5 Galaxy.

And they should have mentioned a bit more about the development history such as the fact that it the winner of the USAF C-X competition and beat its two big rivals, Douglas and Boeing.

Laurel Green

Original Poster:

30,781 posts

233 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
I too was looking forward to more on the history of the craft - disappointing in a way.

Eric Mc

122,053 posts

266 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
And they always looked good in the old white and grey livery. They also sound weird when taxying. The engines issue a distinctive wailing noise - which you just about picked up in the film.

I well remember a fleet of C-5s coming into Dublin Airport in 1978 to airlift an Irish Army contingent to Israel for Lebanese peace keeping duties. It was awesome to stand at the end of the old Runway 24 at Dublin watching a C-5 crab its way in almost sideways in a strong crosswind. The C-5 has a swivelling main undercarriage which means that it can actually land with nthe fuselage over 30 degrees off the runway line. I don't think that was mentioned either.

mcdjl

5,451 posts

196 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
And they always looked good in the old white and grey livery. They also sound weird when taxying. The engines issue a distinctive wailing noise - which you just about picked up in the film.

I well remember a fleet of C-5s coming into Dublin Airport in 1978 to airlift an Irish Army contingent to Israel for Lebanese peace keeping duties. It was awesome to stand at the end of the old Runway 24 at Dublin watching a C-5 crab its way in almost sideways in a strong crosswind. The C-5 has a swivelling main undercarriage which means that it can actually land with nthe fuselage over 30 degrees off the runway line. I don't think that was mentioned either.
You expect that kind of detail to be mentioned? I'm sure they said it could fit two battle tanks in and also that the 50ton load was pushing it to its limits. Either they can get the tanks in and not go anywhere or it was no-where near its limits. A shame- it could have been so interesting if they hadn't felt the need to repeat the introduction after the advert break and aim everything at 5year olds.

Eric Mc

122,053 posts

266 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
They mentioned some things three or four times - so there was plenty of room for a few additional facts about the aircraft.

They also didn't mention the fact that the current oprational version is the C-5B, which are a combination of new builds from the 1980s and upgraded 1960s C-5As.

It could have been so much better.

Ginetta G15 Girl

3,220 posts

185 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Eric Mc said:
It could have been so much better.
I thought it was full of the usual sensationalist drivel so prevalent in British TV these days. For example: "the main runway at Charleston is only a mile and a half long. So the crew will need to get a move on if they are not to run out of road."

Only a mile and a half? That's 9000 ft you twonk, the same as RAF Waddington.


The programme was also full of factual errors from the rubbish about the T/O being like a drag launch with power against brakes when you could clearly hear the flying pilot briefing a 'Rolling T/O', to the utter tripe that the a/c needs 120 mph Groundspeed to get airborne. No it bloody doesn't, it needs 120 kts IAS (shock horror it's so fast!) and that is 4 kts below the V1 Stop Go Decision speed of a Nimrod at Max T/O weight and 26 kts below the Vr for the Nimrod.

Edited by Ginetta G15 Girl on Thursday 12th August 21:39

mcdjl

5,451 posts

196 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
Only a mile and a half? That's 9000 ft you twonk, the same as RAF Waddington.
I was trying to work out how that compared to say Heathrow or something meaningful to most people and gave up at 'long' rather than short as they seemed to want to make out.
I fully agree about the repetition Eric..it was almost like they were encouraging us to learn by rote. I did notice in the credits it was National geographic (American?) but couldn't make out the year- 2005?

FM

5,816 posts

221 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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Missed it damn..will need to check it out online, love the C5, just so huge, how it manages to fly constantly boggles the mind.

Ginetta G15 Girl

3,220 posts

185 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
mcdjl said:
I was trying to work out how that compared to say Heathrow or something meaningful to most people and gave up at 'long' rather than short as they seemed to want to make out.
Heathrow's runways are 12,000 and 12,500 ft.