By Mike Busch

I was on Dune Road in Quogue shooting some wildlife when I noticed a huge military plane fly in over the ocean, bank left and make a slow approach to Gabreski Airport in Westhampton.  Upon closer inspection I realized that this was a C-5 Super Galaxy, the largest western military aircraft ever built.  This particular plane #70036 is based at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

From a distance it is hard to realize how big this aircraft is: 6 stories tall and almost as long as a Football field!

From the U.S. Air Force: 

Mission
The C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest aircraft in the world and the largest airlifter in the Air Force inventory. The aircraft can carry a fully equipped combat-ready military unit to any point in the world on short notice and then provide the supplies required to help sustain the fighting force. 

Features
The C-5 has a greater capacity than any other airlifter. It has the ability to carry 36 standard pallets and 81 troops simultaneously. The Galaxy is also capable of carrying any of the Army’s air-transportable combat equipment, including such bulky items as the 74-ton mobile scissors bridge. It can also carry outsize and oversize cargo over intercontinental ranges and can take off or land in relatively short distances. Ground crews are able to load and off-load the C-5 simultaneously at the front and rear cargo openings, reducing cargo transfer times. Other features of the C-5 are: 

  • Able to operate on runways 6,000 feet long (1,829 meters)
  • Five sets of landing gear totaling 28 wheels to distribute weight
  • Nose and aft doors that open the full width and height of the cargo compartment to permit faster and easier loading
  • A “kneeling” landing gear system that permits lowering the parked aircraft to facilitate drive-on/drive-off vehicle loading and adjusts the cargo floor to standard truck-bed height
  • Full-width drive-on ramps at each end for loading double rows of vehicles
  • A maintenance diagnostics system that records and analyzes data from more than 800 (C-5A) and 7000 (C-5M) test points, reducing maintenance/repair time.

The C-5 has the distinctive high T-tail, 25-degree wing sweep, and four turbofan engines mounted on pylons beneath the wings. 

The C-5 has 12 internal wing tanks with a total capacity of 51,150 gallons (194,370 liters) of fuel — enough to fill 6 1/2 regular-size railroad tank cars. A full fuel load weighs 332,500 pounds (150,820 kilograms). A C-5 with a cargo load of 270,000 pounds (122,472 kilograms) can fly 2,150 nautical miles, offload, and fly to a second base 500 nautical miles away from the original destination — all without aerial refueling. With aerial refueling, the aircraft’s range is limited only by crew endurance. 

After watching it land behind the trees I stopped by Gabreski Airport where the Air National Guard is based and got a few more close up shots.