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THE C-5 GALAXY

THE C-5 GALAXY AND BABYLIFT
The C-5 Galaxy is one of the largest military planes in the world. The engines have a distinctive and loud high pitch to them. It is so large that it appears to fly slowly. I use to live a few miles from the Clark AFB flight line. Sometimes when the huge planes landed they shook the ground. It felt like a small earthquake.

I was 9 years of age in the Philippines. I played with two brothers whose father was a C-5 pilot. The USAF was conducting Operation Babylift for orphaned babies and babies Vietnamese parents wanted to send to the US for a chance for a better life. Clark AFB was the collection point for the babies.

On April 4, 1975 a C-5 flew from Clark AFB to Tan Son Nhut Air Base to pick up babies. That afternoon the C-5 took off from Vietnam to return to Clark AFB. After the plane departed Vietnam, at 4:15, the plane was a few miles over the South China Sea when the rear ramp door locks failed and the plane suddenly depressurized because the rear cargo doors blew out. It caused a chain of events that prevented the full use of the flight controls due to the damage to the hydraulic systems. The plane turned around to fly back to Tan Son Nhut Air Base and it appeared the pilots had stabilized the flight of the plane. However, the plane started to descend too quickly, and the pilots executed a crash landing in a giant rice paddy. It skidded a quarter of a mile and went airborne for half a mile before finally resting at its crash site.

Out of 314 people on board, the death toll included 78 children, 35 Defense Attaché Office employees and 11 U.S. Air Force personnel; there were 176 survivors. All of the surviving orphans were eventually flown to the United States. Upon hearing about the crash, the Clark AFB community was stunned and saddened. We all had a vested interest in Operation Babylift. I don't know if my friends’ father was the pilot who died, one pilot survived, but the family was whisked away to the US in a week. We mourned the deaths of the crew, medical staff, volunteers, and babies. The C-5 Galaxy, Tail # 68-0218 would never make her way back to the home base, Clark AFB. Sometimes in life a good deed can have tragic ending.