C-133 Cargomaster

Mahogany Wood. Scale: 1/100. Wingspan 22 inches, Length 20 inches.

The Douglas C-133 Cargomaster, a four-engine, turboprop transport, was larger and faster then earlier Douglas military cargo airplanes. The Cargomaster went into production without a prototype and had an unusual circular fuselage with top-mounted wings.

The C-133 could fly the equivalent of 22 loaded railroad boxcars nonstop between Los Angeles and New York for about 5 cents per ton per mile. It carried fully assembled tanks and transported the Douglas-built Thor intermediate range ballistic missiles. Douglas built and delivered the last Cargomasters in 1961. NASA used Cargomasters to drop-test early space capsules and to transport a variety of space products.

Douglas built 50 Cargomasters, but after the C-133, Douglas did not built transports specifically for the military for another 10 years.