Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB),
the Galaxy can also be confi gured to carry 270
passengers on palletized seating in the cargo
compartment. Additionally, a troop
compartment located above the cargo area, aft
of the wing, can accommodate 73 passengers.
The aircraft is powered by four 41,100lb st
(182.8kN) General Electric TF39-GE-1 turbofan
engines, and its cargo compartment is
accessed via a large hinged ‘visor’ nose and aft
cargo doors. The compartment has a fl oor
length of 121ft (36.8m), width of 19ft (5.79m)
wide, and height of 13.5ft (4.11m). ‘Drive-
through’ loading and simultaneous unloading
of cargo is made possible by integral loading
ramps and the capability to ‘kneel’ the landing
gear, which permits the aircraft to be lowered
to truck-bed height.
Construction of the prototype began in
August 1966, and the fi rst C-5A was rolled out
of the Lockheed-Georgia Company’s Marietta
facility on March 2, 1968. The Galaxy made its
maiden fl ight when serial 66-8303 took offfrom Dobbins AFB on June 30, 1968. Five test
and three production aircraft eventually
supported the fl ight test program. Training
began following the delivery of the ninth
aircraft to the Transitional Training Unit at
Altus AFB, Oklahoma, on December 17, 1969
and the fi rst operational Galaxy was delivered
to the 437th Military Airlift Wing (MAW) at
Charleston AFB, South Carolina, on June 6,- The Galaxy began its inaugural
operational mission to the Pacifi c on July 3,
1970 and returned to Charleston on July 13
after visiting bases in Hawaii, Guam, the
Philippines, South Vietnam, Japan, and
Alaska. Subsequently, the 60th MAW at Travis
AFB, California, received its fi rst C-5A on
October 24, 1970 and the 436th MAW at Dover
AFB accepted its initial aircraft on April 8,
Numerous weight and performance
problems that appeared during the design,
testing and operational service resulted in
changes to the landing gear, fl ight controls and
aircraft structure. Largely as a result of cost
over-runs, which nearly caused Lockheed to
fi le for bankruptcy, the program’s production
Run B was reduced from a planned quantity of
57 to just 23 aircraft. As a result of that June
1969 decision, total Galaxy production was
curtailed from 115 aircraft to just 81 and the
fi nal production C-5A arrived at Dover on May
18, 1973. Between early July and late August
1973, the aircraft assigned to Charleston AFB
were transferred to Dover in a swap that
moved the latter’s Lockheed C-141A Starlifters
to the South Carolina base.
While still in production, wing cracks were
discovered in the C-5A fl eet, and numerous
actions were taken to reduce wing loads.
These included reducing the operational
payload from 220,000lb (99,790kg) to
190,000lb (86,183kg). Design work on a new
wing began in January 1976, and in early 1978
Lockheed received a contract to manufacture
two new sets of wings. Whereas one set
supported fatigue testing, the second was usedAbove: The C-5M designation is applied to aircraft that have undergone both the avionics
modernization and the engine upgrades. This example is seen during testing of the production-
standard avionics software at Edwards AFB, California. USAF/Christian Turnerhttp://www.combataircraft.net May 2015 7170-77 AMC Part 1- C5 C.indd 71 20/03/2015 11:15