C-141B Starlifter

President John F. Kennedy opened the hangar doors in Marietta, Georgia, by remote signal from the White House for the August 22, 1963, official rollout of the first C-141A Starlifter, which first flew on December 17, 1963, the 60th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. On October 19, 1964, the Military Air Transport Service, predecessor of Military Airlift Command, accepted The Spirit of Oklahoma City at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, as the first of 284 Starlifters purchased by the Air Force. As the first jet aircraft designed, engineered, and built to meet military troop and cargo carrier standards, the C-141 began a new era in air mobility. Operational use later showed that the C-141A's cargo area size and fuel capacity limited its capability and range, and a special modification program addressed those problems by adding 280 inches to the fuselage and a new air refueling capability. First tested in 1977, the conversion of 270 aircraft into redesignated C-141B models created an estimated overall capacity increase equal to adding 90 new aircraft to the fleet. This C-141B is painted in the C-141A white top scheme it carried until its 1980 B-model conversion and supported global airlift, airdrop, and aeromedical missions from 1966 to 1993. On February 12, 1973, it flew to Gia Lam Airport near Hanoi, North Vietnam, on one of the first missions of Operation Homecoming, the repatriation of American prisoners of war. The C-141 Starlifter served as the workhorse of air mobility for more than 40 years.

Scott AFB, Illinois · United States