Hello all,

I'm illustrating a children's book for military families, and I need help finding photo references for a particular aircraft.

Since the book deals with deployment, there is a brief scene where one young girl's father gets on a plane that she and her mother watch take off. I'm not sure which giant military aircraft would be appropriate. Looking at my Dad's Air Force Contrails book from 1991 and straining to remember what I'd see land on base as a kid, I'm guessing a Lockheed C-type strategic or tactical airlift model like the C-141B Starlifter, C-130 Hercules, or a C-5 Galaxy. Am I way off-base here (please don't laugh if I am)? When I was little we'd just call them called "People Movers."

Do the different branches of the military use vastly different types of planes when moving their deployed soldiers from the States? The publisher wants to keep the book branch-neutral so it can be marketed towards any branch of the military. Any uniforms will be the basic combat uniforms but without many branch-specific details.

If any of you with military experience could help point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it! I'm pretty lost and trying to keep my sketches as accurate as possible.

Thanks!

The military uses a wide range of planes, including ordinary 737's for routine deployments.
Massive planes like the C-130 and such are occasionally used for troop transport, however, you're more likely to see a civilian-style jet.

that said, if you want a distinctly military look, here's some:

C141:
http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/c141.jpg
http://aboutfacts.net/Else/Else36/C-141.jpg

737 Derivative:

I believe most, if not all of the C-141 have been retired.

IIRC, a lot of the troop deployments were via the Civil Reserve Air Fleet using commercial airliners

I'm not exactly an expert, but I'm thinking any of those would be appropriate. Another candidate might be a C-135 which is essentially a Boeing 707.

But what I really wanted to say is that I applaud your attention to detail!

Sniff

I guess its been a while since my CAP days visiting McGuire AFB. Of course, the National Guard still had F-4's there too.

Now days they would probably use the C-17 if they were flying via military aircraft, but a lot (most?) of the time they move people via commercial air, and use the big cargo aircraft for "stuff"...

I have been retired for a while now, but I think the aircraft you are looking for is either: 1) C-17 or 2) a commercial jetliner, painted all white, since it is a chartered commercial aircraft.

A lot of the big troop deployments are moved via commercial aircraft with four engines (ex: Boeing 747). Machinery and cargo is moved with C-5 and C-17 aircraft. C-130s are mostly used for in-theater movement of troops and cargo.

C-17 Globe Master


Newest in the AMC fleet and making fequent trips to Kuwait right now.

C-5 Galaxy


Mostlty used for cargo but they do have a upper passenger deck.

C-141 Starlifter


AMC's work horse; troops, cargo, you name it they carry it.



A lot of troop flights to SWA are on commercial flights such as World Airlines but AMC serves all branches of the military.

Oh wow! Thank you all so much for the speedy help, I really appreciate it! I have to run everything through the publisher, of course, but I hope they'll agree with the use of a C-17 or similar because I really, really want to paint a military-style aircraft instead of a commercial one!

"...C-130s are mostly used for in-theater movement of troops and cargo..."

Yup. No one would want to ride in a Herk from the CONUS to the sandbox. Great aircraft, but lacking in creature comforts, and VERY noisy...

We've been sending packages to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past two years from our Scouts, and when the guys send back photos, sometimes we get a picture at the airbase where they are arriving in country. Mostly we see troops getting off United 747's and other large commercial jets in the photos we get from soldiers in Iraq. Pretty much the same at Kandahar. (Afghanistan) Still, I can see why you'd want to have a military aircraft, but, I'm pretty sure soldiers are happy to fly commercial rather than in a jump seat when they cross the pond.

In my experience the different branches use relatively the same type of equipment, but different branches like to specialize. There are exceptions but they tend to be mission specific. The AF flies cargo planes and bombers, the Army has their helicopters, but most branches dabble in fighter jets (with the exception of maybe the Army, I’m not sure about them.)

All the large “people movers,” were usually commercially chartered (not as cracked up to be as it sounds, I’d rather be crammed in with cargo than crammed in with people any day.) until they arrived in theater and then they were often military aircraft. Basically, they would use commercial charter to shuffle us back and forth over the ocean but use Military aircraft once we got in the general area where we were going. I was a dog handler so I often found myself in with the gear on planes like the C141 (yes, now retired), 130, 5, and 17, all of them AF planes. If you want to get up close an personal with one as a civilian you could try visiting your closest air base, most have air museums (of the actual planes) that you can visit.