Flew as crewman on boxcar during AFRes days in the early 60's out of Bakalar AFB Indiana. Our bird 009 (known affectionately as "Balls 9") had a near-perfect record of TO's and landings during many maneuvers and crises. The 119's were big, loud, slow and lumbering, but we always got there. Any still flying stateside?

My father (Cosby Cottrell) worked for Fairchild Ariel Surveys for over 30 years and I think had something to do with this aircraft. He often talked about it. Wish I knew more

Loved that bird, worked on the Instrument and auto-pilot systems from 57 thru 61 with the 336th TCS. One time we were flying from Key West to Panama, engines were started up and I'm still replacing vacuum tubes for the vertical channel of the auto-pilot system. Guys were always getting air sick so I would ask them if they were going to eat there box lunch. Would usually end up with a parka pocket full of sandwhiches, hardboiled eggs and fried chicken. God but I loved it, best time of my life.

Made my first 5 jumps out of this aircraft Oct. 1968
Ft. Benning, Georgia

I was a crewchief and on one of the check crews from 55 -57 .VMR-153 MAG-35 Cherry Point..

I flew C models at Ashiya in '53-'54 in the 817th TCW, made 4 trips between there and Hagerstown, several trips to Haiphong from Clark AFB and flew shot-up ones back to the Clark, then flew G models at Charleston AFB. Had about 1200 hours in it. Thought it was a great aircraft to fly (usually). At 6'4" I loved the big flight deck. But the C models had no airborne escape if the cargo compartment was filled to the ceiling and wall to wall. Lost an engine three times but no sweat, twice we were empty. I can think of many bad situations but tocay they are good memories.

chanute to learn 3350's> on to rhein-main a.f.b. germany= 60th troop carrier wing / 11th tcs 1951---1954

I was with the 101 Airborne Division, 327 Battle Group, E Co. from 1962 to 1965. I broke my cherry on the C 119 and the plane could not get off the runway. The second time it did. I like it also because of the high tail wing and you could exit the plane almost straight out. Whenever we jumped with the C119 we held bets as to which stick exits the plane first.

I flew the G model with 3350s for engines in Vietnam out of TSN (Saigon) during 1970. We started transitioning to Gary engines mid year and found them to be so unreliable that two low time Gary engines were not allowed on one airframe. I had 3 engine failures in tht year and 1 engine failure in the next 42 years. The radials sound nice but I like the reliable whine of a jet.

I was with the 2233 AFRCTC, the active part of the 514 Troop Carrier wing. Based at Mitchel Field, Hempstead, Long Island. We had 52 C-119, 7 Goony birds, and 2 twin Beech C-45 aircraft. Our primary mission was training reservists. Several times a year we would fly to Pope, AFB in N.Carolina and drop the ground pounders, usually into the pine forest! My job was to maintain the radio and nav. gear.
I spent three wonderful years at Mitchel and got out one year before the base closed.

Ashyia AB, Japan...1956-1958, I was a Crew Chief/Flight Mech on C-119G #982 & #864 with the 817th TCS. Then transfered to Wing Aircrew Standardization (Capt Davis, Major Stanley)in 1959. Then the Wing switched to the.C-130A. I then became Flight Engineer on the C-130. I believe in the 4 years there, we visited, supplied and/or para dropped on every island airstrip as well as supporting the Olympic Games in Melbourne. One of my highlights was flying Ethiopian Officers (and gear)from Korea to Ethiopia via India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia etal. One of our routine trips was from Ashyia to Guam (13 hrs in the C-119). Unbelivable today. We must have been nuts to volunteer for that trip as well as to the Phillipines.

Flew out of Ashiya, from Oct.'53 to May'56. Assigned to 816th TCS until switching to movement control in early '55; after flying about 800 hours as a/c. Flew B's and C's with the 4360's until the G models came in '54. Very easy on the controls, stable in weather, but ugly as hell. Loved the assignment as we covered all the Japanese main islands,Philipines, Thailand, Indo-China, Taiwan, and most of the islands in between.Most comfortable cockpit with best visibility; but no bunks.

Just a correction on my aol address

Flew out of Scott AFB in late 1950's as a Flight Mechanic. Can still remember those flights to Panama-lotta water and only one airplane!

Got out of radar school and to 61st TC Sqd. C119s has little radar. Took 40 days to fly to Ashiya Japan on 49142. Prop problems. 2 weeks in Hawaii another 2 weeks on Johnson Island.
I was'nt needed in Ashiya so went to Pyongyang and worked and froze with a combat cargo outfit there. Joined the bugout to Pusan. Returned to Ashiya and got bored as hell doing nothing. Started fooling around learning Morse,radio procedures, not to feed the pilots Etc. Starting flying as a radio operator. Most important message I ever sent was "Tell group 2 ships knocked down over DZ". Nine C119 crew members died that day. It was rumored that our own artillery using proximity fuses did the deed. Combat crew members were supposed to get their choice of bases to be sent to. I did'nt choose Memphis but thats were I was sent. They changed from C 46s to C119s. The planes were not made by Fairchild but by K/F. The skin around the cockpit started dimpling after only a few hours flying time. I often wonder if the rest of the plane was crap. I got discharged and did'nt wait around to find out.

Flew 200 combat missions in the "Stinger gunship" over the Ho Chi Minh trail. Stationed out of Danang 1971. Was an aircraft commander and shot about a zillion rounds of 20mm. What a great weapon. Killed hundreds of trucks etc.

I only flew on a C-119 once. On Mother's day 1963 flew out of my WVANG unit in Martinsburg, WV to Harrisburg, PA on my way to boot camp at Lackland AFB. The first stop before leaving MRB was at the chute shop to get fitted in a harness and issued a chute. The aircraft was also being used for a medevac training mission that day so most of the web seats were filled. Recall the service door for the nose gear was removed on the aircraft and when we landed and the nose gear was lowered anything not tied down got sucked out the nose wheel well. Will never forget that flight. All the C-119s were gone when I returned to MRB a year later from boot camp and tech school. They had been replaced with C-121s.

I flew the C-119 (mostly the G) in 1955-56. I transitioned at Randolph Field in San Antonio; then spent about 6 months at Ardmore AFB in OK; then 1 1/2 years at Ashiya AFB in Japan. We dropped a lot of paratroopers and heavy equipment. Also got quite a bit of IFR time in some serious weather. After about 700 hours in that bird I only have good things to say about it. I loved the power and the sound of those R-3350's and I always thought the C-119 handled extremely well empty or loaded. I remember getting a chance to use its short-field capabilities when we had to land it on a beach in Korea to re-supply an outpost. It performed perfectly. You could really feel the power with the brakes on and both throttles full-forward. As you can tell, I liked flying that bird.

I was a flight navigator on R4Q-2's at Cherry Point in 1959 to 1961 in VMR 252. We had 24 of these beasts and the squadron racked up in excess of 10,000 hours without an accident while I was there. Later I flew with with a number of the non-skeds including Flying Tiger and quickly grew to appreciate the excellent maintenance that the Marine Corps demanded ans we rarely had an engine failure and in my opinion the maintenance was top notch.

On the aircraft itself, while it had limited ability on one engine when heavy it was a reliable over water performer but could have used more range. Semper Fi.

I flew the R4Q 1952-1954 out of El Toro Marine air base in California and we took the squadron VMR 253 to Itami Japan where we flew in and out Korea. With any load the aircraft had poor to nil single engine performance on takeoff. Other than that we had a problem with the props becomeing out of balance and tearing the engine off. Only happened once.