McDonnell Douglas C-9#Variants

{{Short description|Military transport aircraft series based on the DC-9}}

{{Infobox aircraft

|name= C-9 Nightingale/Skytrain II

|image= File:US Navy 030819-N-6501M-017 A C-9B Skytrain II from the Conquistadors of Fleet Logistics Squadron Fifty Seven (VR-57) flies over the Pacific Ocean.jpg

|caption= A C-9B Skytrain II of the US Navy

|type= Military transport aircraft

|national_origin= United States

|manufacturer= McDonnell Douglas

|designer=

|first_flight=

|introduction= 1968

|retired= September 2005 (USAF C-9A);
July 2014 (USN C-9B);
April 2017 (USMC C-9B)

|status= Retired

|primary_user= United States Air Force (historical)

|more_users= United States Navy (historical)
United States Marine Corps (historical)
Kuwait Air Force (historical)

|produced=

|number_built= 48

|developed_from= McDonnell Douglas DC-9

|variants=

}}

The McDonnell Douglas C-9 is a retired military version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 airliner. It was produced as the C-9A Nightingale for the United States Air Force, and the C-9B Skytrain II for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The final flight of the C-9A Nightingale was in September 2005,[https://www.af.mil/News/story/storyID/123011872/ "Historic C-9 heads to Andrews for retirement"]. US Air Force, 24 September 2005. and the C-9C was retired in September 2011. The U.S. Navy retired its last C-9B in July 2014.{{cite web|url=http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-us-navy-finally-retires-the-c-9b-skytrain-ii-after-1607751128|title=The US Navy Finally Retires The C-9B Skytrain II After 41 Years|first=Tyler|last=Rogoway|date=19 July 2014 }} The two remaining C-9s in Marine service were retired in April 2017.{{Cite web |url=http://seapowermagazine.org/stories/20170526-C40.html |title=SEAPOWER Magazine Online |access-date=2018-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216032050/https://seapowermagazine.org/stories/20170526-C40.html |archive-date=2018-12-16 |url-status=dead }}

Despite being officially retired, one C-9B, BuNo 161529, was seen as late as November 2020 being operated by the U.S. Air Force as an experimental sensor testbed.{{Cite web |last=Trevithick |first=Joseph |date=2021-08-03 |title=Retired Marine C-9B Jet Transport Is Getting Second Life As An Air Force Sensor Testbed |url=https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41800/retired-marine-c-9b-jet-transport-has-gotten-a-second-life-as-an-air-force-sensor-testbed |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=The Drive |language=en}}

Design and development

In 1966, the U.S. Air Force identified a need for an aeromedical transport aircraft and ordered C-9A Nightingale aircraft the following year. Deliveries began in 1968.Gunston, Bill, ed. The Encyclopedia of World Air Power. New York, NY: Crescent Books, 1986. {{ISBN|0-517-49969-X}}. The U.S. Air Force received 21 C-9A aircraft from 1968 to 1969. The C-9As were used for medical evacuation, passenger transportation, and special missions from 1968 to 2005. The C-9A were named for English social reformer Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), the founder of modern nursing.{{cite news|url=http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force-retiring-nightingale-fleet-1.10267 |newspaper=Stars and Stripes |title=Air Force retiring Nightingale fleet |last=McEntee |first=Marni |date=August 5, 2003 |access-date=June 20, 2014}}

File:NHZDC9 WIKI.jpg.]]

After selecting a modified DC-9 for passenger and cargo transport, the U.S. Navy ordered its first five C-9Bs, bureau numbers 159030 through 159034. However, since the Air Force was responsible for moving military personnel from place to place in the early 1970s under the Military Airlift Command, this order was canceled.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

The Navy documented to Congress that their people were being given last seating on Air Force flights.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} Congress authorized the Navy to fly its own passenger/cargo jets shortly thereafter. The Navy ordered eight aircraft, bureau numbers 159113 through 159120. The first four went to VR-30 at NAS Alameda in California for west coast logistical support while the second four went to VR-1 at Norfolk in Virginia for east coast support. An additional six aircraft, bureau numbers 160046 through 160051{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} were delivered to the Navy and the Marine Corps in 1976 with the first two aircraft being delivered to the Marine Corps at MCAS Cherry Point, the second two delivered to VR-1 at NAS Norfolk and the last two delivered to VR-30 at NAS Alameda. An additional ten more new and ten used DC-9s were purchased and converted to C-9B for the Navy. The last C-9B to fly for the Navy was retired on 28 June 2014.{{Cite web |url=http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NAVAIRNewsStory&id=5690 |title=Navy says farewell to the C-9 Skytrain II aircraft |website=navair.navy.mil |language=en |access-date=2018-09-16 |archive-date=2018-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916235409/http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NAVAIRNewsStory&id=5690 |url-status=dead }}

Many of the Navy's C-9Bs had a higher maximum gross take-off weight of {{convert|110,000|lb|abbr=on}}. Auxiliary fuel tanks were installed in the lower cargo hold to augment the aircraft's range to nearly {{convert|2,600|nmi|km}} for overseas missions, along with the addition of tail mounted infrared scramblers to counter heat seeking missile threats in hostile environments.{{citation needed|date=June 2009}}

Operational history

File:NASA 932 during parabolic flight (JSC2006-E-02418).jpg 932 reduced-gravity aircraft during parabolic flight]]

The C-9B aircraft have provided cargo and passenger transportation as well as forward deployed air logistics support for the Navy and Marine Corps. (The original "Skytrain" was the World War II era C-47 developed from the civilian DC-3.) A C-9B was also chosen by NASA for reduced gravity research,[http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/Reduced_Gravity/C_9B_history.html The History of C-9B Reduced Gravity Research Program] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215054816/http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/Reduced_Gravity/C_9B_history.html |date=2009-12-15 }}. NASA/JSC, March 25, 2008 replacing the aging KC-135 Vomit Comet.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/kc135onfinal.html |title=Zero-Gravity Plane on Final Flight |language=en |access-date=2021-04-28 |archive-date=2021-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425005628/https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/kc135onfinal.html |url-status=dead }}

The C-9B squadron (VR) were located throughout the continental U.S., with detachments operated in Europe, and Asia.[https://web.archive.org/web/20050527203514/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=1100&tid=200&ct=1 C-9 Skytrain fact file]. US Navy, 15 April 2005.

Variants

C-9A Nightingale - 21 aeromedical evacuation aircraft based on the DC-9-32CF for U.S. Air Force delivered during 1968–69.Birtles, Philip. Douglas DC-9, pp. 109, 116–120, Airlife Publishing, 2002. {{ISBN|1-84037-318-0}}. One was converted for executive transport and stationed at Chievres, Belgium; a second aircraft was converted for VIP transport by the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}
C-9B Skytrain II - 24 convertible passenger/transport versions of the DC-9-32CF for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps delivered from 1973 to 1976. Five more C-9s were converted from passenger configured DC-9s.Becher, Thomas. Douglas Twinjets, DC-9, MD-90, MD-90 and Boeing 717, pp. 170–176, Crowood Press, Aviation Series, 2002. {{ISBN|1-86126-446-1}}.
VC-9C - 3 executive transport aircraft for the U.S. Air Force; these were delivered in 1976 and served until 2011.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}
C-9K - 2 aircraft for the Kuwait Air Force.

Operators

File:McDonnell Douglas VC-9C (DC-9-32), USA - Air Force AN1673261.jpg

;{{KUW}}

Kuwait Air Force

;{{USA}}

Aircraft on display

C-9A (AF serial number 67-22584) is the first C-9A accepted for the Military Airlift Command, and was additionally the first American jet aircraft specifically designed for medical evacuation. It is on display at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.{{cite web|url=http://www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-131018-054.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-08-14 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226171619/http://www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-131018-054.pdf |archive-date=2015-02-26 }} Drummer, Janene L. and Wilcoxson, Kathryn A. "Chronological History of the C-9A Nightingale." March 2001. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
C-9A (AF serial number 71-0877) is on display at Scott AFB, Illinois
C-9A (AF serial number 71-0878) is on display in front of Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas
VC-9C (AF serial number 73-1682) is on display at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover AFB, Delaware
VC-9C (AF serial number 73-1681) is on display at the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, California and was used by Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton{{Cite web|url=https://www.castleairmuseum.org/douglasvc9c|title=Tour Air Force One|website=www.castleairmuseum.org|access-date=2017-11-24}}
VC-9C (AF serial number 73-1683) is on display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon
C-9B (Navy 163511), last operated by VR-46 in Marietta, GA, is on display at Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida
C-9B (Navy 159120) is on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona
C-9B (Navy 164607) is in storage at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona awaiting restoration

Specifications (C-9B)

File:US Navy 050909-N-5328N-358 U.S. Navy Cmdr. James McSweeney, and Cmdr. Robert Velez, pilot a C-9 Skytrain cargo plane from the Hurricane Katrina staging area at Sherman Field aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola.jpg

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Encyclopedia of World Air Power

|prime units?=kts

|crew=5 to 8

|capacity=up to 76 pax

|length ft=119

|length in=3

|length note=

|span ft=93

|span in=5

|span note=

|height ft=27

|height in=6

|height note=

|wing area sqft=1001

|wing area note=

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=root: DSMA-433A/-434A; tip: DSMA-435A/-436A{{cite web |last1=Lednicer |first1=David |title=The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage |url=https://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads/aircraft.html |website=m-selig.ae.illinois.edu |access-date=16 April 2019}}

|empty weight lb=59700

|empty weight note=

|gross weight lb=

|gross weight note=

|max takeoff weight lb=110000

|max takeoff weight note=

|fuel capacity=

|more general=

|eng1 number=2

|eng1 name=Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9

|eng1 type=turbofan engines

|eng1 lbf=14500

|eng1 note=

|max speed kts=500

|max speed note=

|max speed mach=0.84

|cruise speed kts=485

|cruise speed note=

|stall speed kts=

|stall speed note=

|never exceed speed kts=

|never exceed speed note=

|minimum control speed kts=

|minimum control speed note=

|range nmi=2520

|range note=

|ferry range nmi=

|ferry range note=

|endurance=

|ceiling ft=37000

|ceiling note=

|climb rate ftmin=3000

|climb rate note=+

|time to altitude=

|lift to drag=

|wing loading lb/sqft=

|wing loading note=

|fuel consumption lb/mi=

|thrust/weight=

|more performance=

|avionics=

Weather radar

}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20050527203514/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=1100&tid=200&ct=1 C-9 Skytrain fact file] and [https://web.archive.org/web/19970206100042/http://www.history.navy.mil/planes/c9.htm C-9 history page on U.S. Navy site]
[https://www.af.mil/News/story/storyID/123006565/ C-9 Nightingale page] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20000823210858/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/systems/dvic176.htm C-9 Nightingale/Skytrain pages on U.S. Air Force site]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20061220064227/http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/news/dquarterly/fall03/goodbye_to_era.htm "Goodbye to an era", deploymentlink.osd.mil, Fall 2003]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150226171619/http://www.amc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-131018-054.pdf Air Mobility Command: The Chronological History of the C-9A Nightingale]
[http://amcmuseum.org/at-the-museum/aircraft/c-9ac-nightingale/ Air Mobility Command Museum: C-9A/C Nightingale]
[http://www.amarcexperience.com/ui/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&catid=8 AMARC Experience: McDonnell Douglas C-9A Nightingale]