March 2018
Spotted this unique aircraft in one of the storage areas of the impressive Pima Air & Space Museum. This is a Flying Boxcar with a distinctive single jet engine mounted on top. This aircraft was used by Hemet Valley Flying Service as a firefighting air tanker and had the Steward-Davis “Jet Pak” modification, allowing for higher payload capacity. After a series of crashes, the U.S. C-119 air tanker fleet was permanently grounded in 1987. The C-119 first flew in November 1947, and by the time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,100 C-119s had been built. Nikon D500 w/18-200 mm.