May 2019
The Convair C-131 Samaritan was an American military transport produced from 1954 to 1956 by Convair. First flown in 1949, it was the military version of the Convair CV-240 family of airliners with 512 produced. The United States Air Force used the Samaritan for medical evacuation and VIP transport (as in the case of this VC-131D). Nearly all of the C-131s left the active USAF inventory in the late 1970s, but the U.S. Coast Guard operated the aircraft until 1983, while the Air National Guard and U.S. Navy units operated them until 1990. This example belongs to the Lauridsen Aviation Museum in Buckeye, AZ. Nikon D7100 w/18-200mm.