I would like to acquire some information of flying the C-123 on the Microsoft Flight Simulator. I have the aircraft and it flys well but I would like to have a checklist and a reference file.

I prefer to simulate the standard flight characteristics and not just push the throttles to max for take-off and a notch or two of flaps with a guess at airspeed for landing.

Any help in directing me to these files would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance,

Wayne

I was a loadmaster with the 19th Air Commando Squadron at Tan Son Nhut in 1967-68. We were the first squadron to convert to the C-123K with two J85 jet engines in addition to the two R-2800 recips. The max gross weight for takeoff in the "K" model was 60,000 pounds when operating from paved airfields. No problem with the gear as it was standard procedure to leave the gear pins in until after takeoff and then pull them (there was an access door in the wheel wells for this purpose) and reinstall them after putting the gear down for landing. David Farrar is correct, it was the noisest ever (although you could probably get an argument from loadmasters who flew in the cargo compartment of 3-bladed prop equipped C-130A's), but if you think the "B" model was noisy, takeoff in the "K" model even with earplugs and headset was a religious experience and if you exposed the terrorists at Gitmo to those decibel levels it would be considered torture, and rightly so! The C-123 holds the distinction of being the first all jet AF transport, XC-123A. Also, there was an amphibian version, YC-123E of which only one example was built (55-4031). Although there was never a production C-123 gunship, two C-123K's were converted to NC/AC-123K under Project Black Spot. These aircraft carried radar and sensors including a FLIR, Low-Light-Level-TV and a laser range finder to detect enemy ground movements on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and carried between 2,664-6,372 one pound cluster bomb units (CBU's) which were then dropped on the bad guys through twelve openings in the cargo floor. During the combat evaluation period (Nov 68 through Jan 69)the two aircraft destroyed 151 boats/vehicles, damaged another 108 and noted secondary explosions on 261 targets.

The C-123 was the only aircraft type to operate with four distinctive power plant types: pure jet (XC-123A); pure recip (C-123B); mixed jet/recip (C-123K); and pure turboprop (C-123T).

John Limbach, CMSgt USAF (Ret'd.)
I will be flying airdrop tests on a C-123K week after next. Got to find my earplugs.

Source for a good deal of this info is personal experience/observation and the book, "C-123 Provider In Action", Squadron/Signal Publications Aircraft Number 124, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in this great old bird.

I was a flight engineer on the C-123K in 1969 to 1970 assigned to the 606 SOS out of Nakhon Phanom Thailand. Our
primary mission was to recon the Ho Chi Minh Trail (supply
route from North Vietnam through Laos to South Vietnam) and
flare support. During this peroid I was awarded The DFC and 13 Air Metals. Having flown as an Engineer on many aircrafts I enjoyed the C-123 the most. It was an essential
toy. Very versatile in all the missions it was assigned to do.

Mistakes: The aircraft experimentally performed many tasks but gunship it was not. The B model (as shown) had a gross weight limit of 54,000 LBS. I remember the first time 60,000 was used (with waiver) the main gear collapsed on the taxiway. I flew the aircraft to 24,000 ft, at which time we had a negative airspeed - against a jetstream. Slow, noisy, but an amazing workhorse. By the way, we bought the six aircraft back from Saudi Arabia in 1965.

I flew the C-123B and K, UC-123B and K in VietNam and as an instructor at Hurlburt Field (1966-9). To my knowledge the C-123 was never used as a Spectre gunship. That was the C-130. The C-47 and C-119 were both used before. The C-123 was used as a defoliation aircraft in Operation Ranch Hand by the 12th Air Commando Sq. and as a nighttime flare/FAC flying out of Thailand.

Absolutely the noisest airplane in the sky. With the C-119 a close second. You couldn`t hear yourself think inside the 123 at cruise speed. Forget take-offs. You wore earplugs or you died. As a bandsman maybe my ears were too sensitive. Dave Farrar Air Force Band of Flight...1960-`65

I was assigned to Ardmore AFB with the 309Th when the first C-123s arrived and I stayed with the group until 1958, most of the time was at Dreux AFB in France.
Col. Bull Bently was our first Group Commander .
Former Staff Sargent Larry Smith Aircraft Hydraulic Tech.
USAF