Some Assembly Required Dave Grant

8/12/2019 Some Assembly Required Dave Grant

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The C-141 StarLifter

Some assembly required


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This is some of the tooling used

to manufacture the C-141.

These were used to shape the

sides of the fuselage.


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In this picture you can see

the aluminum skin being

applied to the segment.


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The completed segment is moved

to a holding area, until needed.


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In the lower foreground, is thelower bulkhead that the upper

aft fuselage will be built upon.

The section on the left side of

the photo is being moved to

mount on the bulkhead.


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The upper skin segment of the aft

fuselage is being attached to the

lower bulkhead. The hole in the top

will be inside the vertical stabilizer.This is one of several stations

assembling this segment. All the

segments are being manufactured

concurrently, and will be joined at

the final assembly.


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This is the aft segment of the

aft fuselage, which will be

moved and joined with the

bulkhead, and forward section.


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Aft segment being mated with the

bulkhead and forward section.


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The aft fuselage upper segment, now

completed, is being mated with the fuselage

side segments in an alignment fixture.


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The upper cap for the aft fuselage is

being installed. The number three

emergency escape hatch is visiblein the forward section of the cap.


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Upper forward fuselage framework.

The aluminum skin is being attachedon the left side of the picture.


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Upper forward fuselage with

the aluminum skin attached.


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Lower forward fuselage beingassembled in fixture. It is assembled

upside down for ease of assembly.


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Lower forward fuselage being

moved to mating fixture. The

section on the right side with the

two holes is the forward bulkhead

where the radome will attach.


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The lower forward fuselagesection is in place in the

alignment fixture as the

upper section is lowered into

position for mating.


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The completed forward fuselage

segment is completed and moved to

the fuselage mating jig. As you can

see this is the first C-141A StarLifter.


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Fuselage Station 1058 main frame. This is one of four main frames that

completely encircle the fuselage. Main frames are located at the front and back

of the center wing, they support the airplane while airborne. Fuselage station

998 and 1058 main frames support the airplane while it is on its wheels.


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A section of the center

fuselage that contains, frombottom to top, the 1058, 998,

and 958 main frames.


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Center fuselage floor segment being

lowered into an alignment/mating fixture.


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Center fuselage main frame

segment being positioned

near alignment/mating fixture.


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Main frame segment

being mated with floor

segment. In the lower

center of the pictureyou see a large hole

where the crane cable

is attached. This will

be used to hold the

main landing gear pivot

pin. It is located in theFS998 main frame.


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Floor panels are installed in the

center fuselage. In addition to

acting as a floor, the panels

provide stability to the structure.If the floor panels were not

installed the segment could

become distorted cause failure.


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Main frame segment being

lowered into alignment and

mating fixture.


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Lower section of the center wing box being

installed in an alignment fixture. You can see

the upper pressure diaphragm that will becontained within the assembly.


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Lower center wing placed in the alignment

fixture. Notice the risers on the sides of

the panels. These were milled to shape in

order to provide strength to the panels.


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In order to save space on the

manufacturing floor, the upper

surface of the center wing wasassembled vertically


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The upper surface of the center wing box

is being lowered on top of the lower

surface in the alignment/mating fixture.


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Center wing box being moved to centerfuselage alignment/mating fixture. The

dark square hole is to provide access

for maintenance personnel.


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Lowering the center wing box

into the fixture.


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Fuselage mating fixture. All three segments of the

fuselage will be aligned and mated in this fixture.


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Center fuselage section from fuselage

station 734 through station 1058. It is

being moved toward the mating fixture.


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Center fuselage being placed into the

alignment/mating fixture. The center

fuselage is the heart of the airplane. All

other assemblies will be aligned to it.


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Aft fuselage being lowered onto the

alignment/mating fixture. Once on thefixture it will be moved forward to mate

with the center fuselage.


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Main landing gear pods. They do not

carry structural load, and their only

purpose is to provide an aerodynamic

enclosure for the landing gear.


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Main landing gear pod installed on the left

side of the airplane.


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Main landing gear strut

ready for build-up


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Adding the brake, wheel,

and tire assemblies. The

tires are 28 ply 44 x 16

inch radials.


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This is the brake assembly. It is a multiple

disc assembly. Just behind the brake is the

bogie beam positioner which keeps thewheels level for landing.


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Measure with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.

The landing gear doors are installed and trimmed to fit with the

landing gear retracted into the wheel well.


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The complete fuselage supported by its own wheels.


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The wings were made off site, and

brought to Marietta, GA by train.


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The wings are brought into the facility, and

prepared for assembly. They are only a fuelcell at this point. The trailing edge and

leading edge components will now be added.


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The facility was also being used forproduction of other airplanes at this time.

The C-140 (JetStar) in the background

was in the final production area. Later in

the production of the C-141A, the C-5A

production line was started.


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The trailing edges are

being installed. Thisincludes the flap tracks.


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Once the trailing edge is attached to the wing,

preparations are made for wing installation.


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The wing is in transit. If you notice the

crane operator is in the little bucket up

near the ceiling. At that time, the crane

operator rode up there, now he walks

on the floor with a long lead control box.


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Right wing is lowered into position,

and will be aligned and mated tothe fuselage. Four tension bolts

and chordwise splice joints hold the

wing to the fuselage.


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Bringing the left wing into

position for installation.


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The fuselage now has wings. Next will be

the ailerons, engines and all the plumbing

and wiring for the wings and engines.


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The ailerons are swung into position

and installed.


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The engines are hung,

and the necessary wiringconnected and routed

back to the fuselage.


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Engine cowl door will be placed on the engine once the

engine is completely installed on the pylon.


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Engine installed with cowl

doors open. You can see the

wiring, fuel and hydraulic

lines running up the leadingedge of the pylon.


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The fuselage, wings, and

engines are installed, now

its time to work on the tail.


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Petal door being brought intoposition for installation. The cutout

on the left end was where the

auxiliary petal door was located.

The first few models had this

feature for the paratroopers to jump

out. Unfortunately, they wouldbump their heads, so the door was

eliminated, and they jump out the

side doors now, or the back with

the petal doors open to the air drop

position.


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The petal doors are

installed. As you can see

inside the fuselage there is

still a lot of work being done.

The pressure door will be

installed next.


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Horizontal stabilizer. Actually this is a test assembly

used to ensure the T-tail could be attached to the

airplane while inside the building.


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Vertical stabilizer. The

horizontal stabilizer will be

attached to the top of thisassembly in the fixture on

the right side of this picture.


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Fully assembled horizontal stabilizer

being moved into position for mating tovertical stabilizer.


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Once mated, the T-tail will

be moved to the fuselage

and installed as an

assembly.


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During the mating process, thenose of the airplane was jacked

approximately five feet off the

ground to allow the crane operator

to position the T-tail. Once

attached, the airplane could sit

normally on its wheels withadequate clearance for the T-tail.


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Before we get too far, we need to take the

plane over to the paint barn and get allthe correct markings and insignias.


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Back from the paint barn, we have all themarkings. Final flight control rigging, and

other cosmetic operations are being

completed in preparation for roll out.


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August 22, 1963 the first C-141 airplane AF61-2775

rolled out of the Marietta, GA facility

The C-141 on display with


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The C 141 on display with

a C-130 and C-47.


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First flight of the C-141 took place on December 17, 1963. The

sixtieth anniversary of the Wright brothers first flight.


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The 285th C-141 built was made as acommercial demonstrator (designated

the L300). It was acquired by NASA in

March 1971, and modified to carry an

airborne telescope.


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In December 1975, the C-141Awas brought to Marietta, GA for

stretch modification prototype.

This modification added 23 feet

to the length of the airplane.

271 airplanes were modified.


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In February 1979, the first

MAC C-141s arrived formodification. At peak

production, a rate of 10

airplanes per month were

being modified.


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July 18, 1979 the first stretched C-141 rolled out of the B1

manufacturing facility. The first operational C-141B was

assigned to Travis AFB, CA on April 11, 1980

Some were equipped for


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Some were equipped for

special missions.


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In 1997, the automatic flight controlsystem and flight instruments were

upgraded to the glass cockpit. This

created the C-141C model.


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Some Assembly Required Dave Grant

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