C-5M Super Galaxy: the takeoff process of the largest US military aircraft

@DefAviation ES 9·26·2022 · 21:11 0

Among the aviation giants of all time, the American transport plane Lockheed C-5 Galaxy occupies one of the most prominent places.

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This plane made its first flight in 1968 (a few months before another of the giants, the Boeing 747), and no fewer than 131 copies have been built, making it the most manufactured giant in history. Currently, the United States Air Force (USAF) maintains 52 active units of its most recent version, the C-5M Super Galaxy, developed since 2006 with new General Electric F138-GE- 100 and other improvements.

In the case of this plane, "giant" is not an exaggeration. The fuselage of the C-5M is 75.31 meters long and 19.84 meters high, and its wings have a wingspan of 67.89 meters. Its empty weight is 172 tons, and it can reach a maximum takeoff weight of 381 tons. Its maximum speed is 856 km/h and it has a range of 8,900 km. It needs a runway of 1,646 meters to take off and 1,097 meters to land. A few days ago a C-5M could be seen at NATO Days at Leoš Janáček Airport in Otrava, in the Czech Republic. Knight Flight has published the spectacular video of that takeoff (turn up the volume to get an idea of the noise it makes):