ferrydude:
C-133
13/04/58 54-0146 Fatalities: 4 Georgetown GE.
10/06/01 57-1614 Fatalities: 8 Near Tachikawa at sea 33 minutes after T/O.
27/05/62 57-1611 Fatalities: 6 Crashed at sea 32 minutes after take off from Dover AFB.
10/04/63 59-0523 Fatalities: 9 Crashed 3/4 miles short of Travis AFB.
31/07/63 56-2005 Burnt out during ground refuelling at Dover AFB.
22/09/63 59-2002 Fatalities: 7 Took off from Dover AFB for Lajes and was never seen again. Last heard of 57 minutes after take-off.
07/11/64 56-2014 Fatalities: 7 Near Goose Bay. Stalled after take off. Right wing dropped. Left wing dropped. Impacted nose high.
11/01/65 54-0140 Fatalities 6: Crashed 500 feet after take off at Wake Island.
30/04/67 59-0534 Fatalities 0: Near Oknawa all power lost after take-off and ditched in the sea 34 miles off the coast.
06/02/70 59-0530 Fatalities 10: Nr Patisade NE. Explosive decompression. Crashed in flames.
So, you had 50 C-133s and killed a huge number of crews.
We had 10 Belfasts on 53 Squadron and we still had 10 Belfasts when we were finally finished in the Defence Cuts in 1976.
By the way, we always had USAF exchange officers on the squadron and they were always a bit apprehensive that the Belfast looked a bit like the C-133 which scared the **** out of them.
I look forward to you making a logical case for the C-133 having had such a successful career.
In 53 Squadron we were very proud of the fact that we had the entire production run and, just before Christmas in 1971, we got all of them back for Christmas and flew them in formation. It was probably the only time that an entire production run was flown in formation.
I have the photographs!