out much of the existing internal fittings, and
making the freight doors larger. The pair
were ready and at work by mid-1989.DESERT STORM
War duties loomed again in 1983 and
Galaxies flew US troops to Barbados in
support of the USA’s Operation Urgent Fury
intervention in Grenada – the Caribbean
island suffered a coup in 1979 leading to
fears that a Soviet base could be built close
to mainland USA. The country became
more unstable in 1983 when its leader,
Maurice Bishop, was killed and fears for US
citizens living on the island led President
Ronald Reagan to send in troops in late
October 1983. The battle was short, and
order was restored within a few days.
At the turn of the decade the C-5s went
to war again as part of Operation Just Cause
and the US invasion of General Noriega’s
Panama. C-5s moved more than half the
supplies used by American forces – some
14,000 tons – during the brief conflict, along
with around 12,000 men, nearly a quarter
of the troops that took part – all in just 238
Galaxy flights.
This proved to be a warm up for much
bigger military campaigns that started in the
Persian Gulf six months later – Operations
Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The
Galaxy fleet played a major role in both – it
delivered an incredible amount of personnel
and equipment/supplies to the region; 84,385
people and well over 200,000 tons of cargo.
One C-5A, 68-0228, crashed on take-off at
Ramstein AB, Germany, on August 29, 1990
as it ferried men and materials to the Gulf –
13 people of the 17 on board were killed.
In addition to its duties supporting Desert
Shield and Desert Storm, the Galaxies
supplied Patriot missile batteries to Israel to
help counter air attacks from Iraq, and their
usual duties and humanitarian commitments
continued. The pace and duration of thework extracted a heavy price from the
C-5s – maintenance time increased and
serviceability dropped dramatically – but
the fleet continued its work and was heavily
involved in aid flights around the world
during the 1990s.
In 1998, the Warner Robins Air Logistics
Center in Georgia took on the programmed
depot maintenance work, a role it still
fulfils today. The reason for the move was
largely based on finances, and was not
connected with performance standards at
the establishment that previously carried out
the overhauls.
It was announced the same year that
an avionics modernisation programme
(AMP) would be carried out on the fleet to
bring the cockpit up to modern standards- essential if the aircraft was to be use
commercial airports around the world. The
AMP took around six months per aircraft to
and resulted in a new, modern glass cockpit
with a digital, all-weather flight control
system and autopilot. The communications
suite was renewed, flat-panel displays and
enhanced navigation added, and additional
safety equipment was introduced. The
improvement/introduction of integrated data
link capabilities, predictive flight performance
cues and the enhanced ground proximity
warning system were intended to ease the
cockpit workload and enhance situational
awareness. Work began in 1998, with the
first aircraft delivered to the USAF within
12 months and the last AMP upgrade was
completed on April 27, 2013.
Further action was taken at high
government and commercial level in the
mid-2000 to address the C-5’s serviceability
issues. A joint air force and industry team
was formed to examine ways to improve
reliability, looking at all aspects of its design
and its engineering/operational life. As
with many committee-led initiatives, it
took time for recommendations to be put
forward, evaluated and approved. Manyhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 61A C-5 being loaded during Desert Storm. USAFRetired C-5s at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group’s Aircraft and Missile Storage and Maintenance Facility, Davis-
Monthan, Arizona, on August 2 last year. USAF/SSgt Perry Aston58-63_galaxyDC.mfDC.mf.indd 61 03/07/2018 11:23