FRED to stop whining in October

On March 16th, C-5A 70-0456 departed Westover AFB for AMARG. That leaves only 4 C-5As, with their distinctive whine, left flying. All four are at Westover.

The rest of the C-5 fleet has been upgraded to the M standard, which replaces the engines with CF6 turbofans. This makes them more reliable, and increases their power, but also gets rid of the sound caused by the TF39 used by the earlier aircraft.

Three of the last 4 aircraft will depart Westover for AMARG in October. The 4th aircraft will fly to Wright-Patterson and will go on display at the Air Force Museum.

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a reply to: Zaphod58

All I can say is it sucks to get old. These were in my top 5 favorites (aircraft) of all time!

a reply to: Caver78

They'll still be around, they just won't sound the same, or be nearly as numerous. Over half the fleet has been retired already. The rest will have a few more years but they're getting there.

LOL....I rather meant I'm getting old when they are retiring aircraft I used to see in my 30's.
But good to know "Fred" will still be around.

It seems that they must have said. ."what the hell is wrong with that engine " the first time they fired one up on the test rack. Or do you think the engineers knew it would sound that way before they ran it ?

I have been by Westover quite a few times and heard them. They also used to come into Dow AFB in Bangor quite often when I would be sleeping in the bunk house....between mail runs. The bunk house sat basically right off the end of the runway.

The other unique thing about them is that they look like they are going too slow to be able to fly.

a reply to: HarryJoy

I love that sound. I heard an M go over one day and it just wasn't the same.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well...I remember the first time I heard one I was thinking....Is this thing having engine problems and about to crash..lol

a reply to: Zaphod58

Oh, FRED. I'm essence, the USAF looking at the An-22 and saying "hold my beer and watch this".

The retirement of the -A's is a shame for sure. I remember back in the 90s when they were a common sight coming into and out of Hanscom. 10 year old me loved being right under one of the approaches barely two miles from the base. They are getting long in the tooth, though. All it takes is a look at the C-5's flap arrangement to remind you that aerodynamically, it's a contemporary of the VC-10.

The retirement of the -A's will mean the game for the title of "coolest-sounding subsonic aircraft" will be wide open for the first time since Nixon was president.

I nominate the Trent-engined 777's to be the new title holder.