C-5A SAM Strike Damage Photos

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C-5A SAM Strike Damage

Folks,

Here are the photos of that C-5A after it got hit by that SAM in Iraq. Jeffrey sent these to me and the commentary is his.

Enjoy!

US C-5 cargo plane hit by missile on takeoff from Baghdad

WASHINGTON (AFP) Jan 08, 2004
A US Air Force C-5 cargo plane carrying 63 passengers and crew was apparently hit by a missile Thursday as it took off from Baghdad aiport, a senior US defense official said.

One of its engine exploded, but it managed to land safely, officials said.

(Click Here for the rest of the article.)

Here's Jeffrey's description of it all:

Madoc,

   That silver "patchwork" that you see on the fuselage is what's called "silver speed tape" and these guys use it for BDR (Battle Damage Repair) if an aircraft has to get up and out of a hot runway area, such as was the case in Baghdad. There are no Heavies stationed directly out of Baghdad due to the fact that they're nice, fat targets for mortars to hit. Any aircraft on the ground there are just passing thru and rarely stay longer than it takes to offload/load cargo and/or PAX (passengers) and refuel the aircraft. Anyhow, the story as it was told to me:

   The C-5, which is out of Travis AFB, CA, was traveling at approximately 6,000 ft when it was hit with what is believed to have been an SA-7. It was hit in the #4 (right outboard) motor, knocking the turbine off-center and initiating automatica shut-down and foam. The C-5 IFE'd (In-Flight Emergency) in to BIA where it remained 'til a field Combat Logistics Support Squadron team could fly in, assess the damage and affect field level repairs of a sort that could limp the aircraft out of the danger zone.

   After consulting w/Lockheed engineers, a flight crew spent three days in simulator's preparing for a 3/4 full load take-off w/only three engines. The crew had no problem w/the roll-out and then traveled for approximately 60 miles at 500 feet to build up to speed so they could climb. I'm not sure why they flew out with any sort of load, but the C-5 is massively
overpowered anyhow, so am guessing there wwere no safety worries of any sort.

   A replacement engine and pylon were flown to another location several days in advance and was waiting for the aircraft to arrive. The aircraft arrived w/o incident and the engine and pylon were both replaced by the same aforementioned CLSS team. Took the team about three days to swap both parts out.

And that's all I'm sayin' 'bout that. Not that there's much more to tell, really. Happy ending for all.

Laters,
     Jeffrey

This page was last updated on 19 January 2004

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs and images on this page are copyright protected property of Madoc Pope. If you would like to use any of my images you must contact me first before you do so.

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In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed your "stay" at this site. Check back again to see what new images I have added. Until then, stay well, play hard, play safe, and have fun!

Madoc