Although often unsung in the military aviation world, overshadowed by the sexy fighters and tough bombers, transport aircraft nevertheless form an essential role in the projection of power beyond a nation's borders. Learning from experiences in Europe in World War I, the USAF undertook a serious transport aircraft building programme during the 1950s and 1960s with increasingly bigger and faster types being demanded. Starting with converted airliners like the Constellation and Stratocruiser, and progressing through the early Globemaster, by 1956, Douglas were building the hugeC-133 Cargomaster, which heralded design features like the high wing, podded undercarriage, and pressurised cargo bay that would be carried throughto more modern designs like the C-130 Hercules, C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster. A particular use for the C-133, and specific for the times, was the carriage of ballistic missiles like the Thor, Titan, Atlas, and Minuteman to US and overseas destinations, and while there's a temptation to think that the aircraft was designed around such cargoes, the timing of their introduction into service suggests that the reverse might be true, and that the parameters of the missiles were in fact set by the transport options.
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