Douglas C - 133 Cargomaster The Douglas C - 133 Cargomaster was a large cargo aircraft built between 1956 and 1961 by the Douglas Aircraft Company for use with the United States Air Force . The C - 133 was the USAF ' s only production turboprop - powered strategic airlifter , entering service shortly after Lockheed ' s better known C - 130 Hercules , which was known as a tactical airlifter . It provided airlift services in a wide range of applications , being replaced by the C - 5 Galaxy in the early 1970s . Design and development . The C - 133 was designed to meet the requirements for the USAF ' s Logistic Carrier Support System SS402L for a new strategic transport . The aircraft differed considerably from the C - 74 Globemaster and C - 124 Globemaster II s that had preceded it . A high - mounted wing , external blister fairings on each side for the landing gear , and rear - loading and side - loading doors ensured that access to , and the volume of , the large cargo compartment were not compromised by these structures . The cargo compartment ( 90 ft / 27 m in length and 12 ft / 3 . 7 m high ) was pressurized , heated , and ventilated . The Cargomasters went directly into production as C - 133A ; no prototypes were built . The first Cargomaster flew on 23 April 1956 . The first C - 133As were delivered to the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) in August 1957 and began flying MATS air routes throughout the world . Two C - 133s established transatlantic speed records for transport aircraft on their first flights to Europe . The fleet of 50 aircraft proved itself invaluable during the Vietnam War . The Cargomaster soldiered on until the Lockheed C - 5 Galaxy entered service in the early 1970s . The C - 133 was then retired and most airplanes were cut up as soon as they were delivered to Davis - Monthan Air Force Base , Tucson , Arizona , on their final flights in 1971 . Fifty aircraft ( 32 C - 133A and 18 C - 133B ) were constructed and put into service with the USAF . A single C - 133A and a C - 133B were built and kept at Douglas Long Beach as " test articles . " They had no construction numbers or USAF tail numbers . The C - 133 had large tail doors and side doors and a large , open cargo area . With the C - 133B , the rear cargo doors were modified to open to the side ( petal doors ) , making an opening large enough to transport ballistic missile s such as the Atlas , Titan and Minuteman more cheaply , safely and quickly than road transport . Several hundred Minuteman and other ICBM s were airlifted to and from their operational bases by C - 133s . The C - 133 also transported Atlas , Saturn and Titan rockets to Cape Canaveral for use as launch boosters in the Gemini , Mercury and Apollo space programs . After the Apollo capsules splashed down , they were airlifted in C - 133s from Naval Station Norfolk , Virginia or Hickam AFB , Hawaii to Ellington AFB , Texas , or to California . Operational history . The C - 133 was for many years the only USAF aircraft capable of hauling very large or very heavy cargo . Despite the Douglas C - 124 Globemaster II ' s capabilities , there was much cargo that it could not carry because of its configuration with a cargo deck 13 ft ( 4 m ) off the ground and its lower , though substantial , engine power . It continued in service after the formation of the USAFs Military Airlift Command on 1 January 1966 . By 1971 , shortly before the introduction of the Lockheed C - 5 Galaxy , the Cargomaster was obsolete as well as being worn out , and all were withdrawn from service in 1971 . The C - 133 was originally a 10 , 000 - hour airframe that had been life - extended to 19 , 000 hours . Severe vibration had caused critical stress corrosion of the airframes to the point that the aircraft was beyond economical operation any longer . The Air Force managed to keep as many of the C - 133 fleet in service as possible until the C - 5 finally entered squadron service . C - 133s set a number of unofficial records , including records for military transport aircraft on trans - Atlantic and trans - Pacific routes . Among the longest were non - stop flights from Tachikawa Airfield , Japan , to Travis Air Force Base , California ( 17 : 20 hours on 22 May 1959 , 5 , 150 mi / 8 , 288 km , 297 . 2 mph / 478 . 3 km / h ) and Hickam Air Force Base , Hawaii to Dover Air Force Base , Delaware in about 16 hours ( 4 , 850 mi / 7 , 805 km 303 . 1 mph / 487 . 8 km / h ) . The only FAI officially - sanctioned record was in December 1958 , when C - 133A 62008 lifted a payload of 117 , 900 lb ( 53 , 480 kg ) to an altitude of 10 , 000 ft ( 3 , 048 m ) at Dover Air Force Base , Delaware . After retirement by the USAF , Cargomasters were operated by the Cargomaster Corporation in Alaska and by the Foundation for Airborne Relief based in California . Accidents and incidents . Of 50 aircraft built , nine were lost in crashes and one was destroyed in a ground fire . The primary causes of most of the in - flight losses were most likely related to the C - 133 ' s stall characteristics .