Boeing 4-engine airliner lands on 2800ft strip!

flyingcheesehead

flyingcheesehead

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
24,256
Location
UQACY, WI
Display Name
Display name:
iMooniac
I knew about this, but I had never seen video before -

In 1977, a Boeing C97 - The military cargo version of the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser - was landed at the old Dodgeville airport, where it was then put in front of the Don Q Inn next door:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS_ogd5MRmo

The Don Q Inn is still there, as is the C-97, though the birds have taken their toll on it and the tires are flat. (Farrah's signature is still in good shape, though.) I think they've removed the permanent stairs leading to the door due to vandals as well. :( But, I have been in the airplane and sat in the cockpit years ago.

Sadly, the Dodgeville airport is now closed. The runway is still there, though - covered with junked vehicles. If the current owners of the Don Q Inn were smart, they'd buy the old airport and open it back up. This would be a GREAT place for pilots to overnight or spend the weekend - It's a theme-suite hotel these days. I guess they used to have some fly-in brunches, and it sure looks like they were popular:

Dodgeville_WI_undated_planes.jpg


Here's a pic from above in 2006:

attachment.php


Plane on the right, hotel on the left, and the old taxiway from the hotel up to the runway at the top. The Airfields Freeman site has some good stuff about it too.
 

Attachments

  • Disc1 024.jpg
    Disc1 024.jpg
    199.8 KB · Views: 302
Last edited:
I found a video that starts with the ad for the Mercury Cougar with Farrah Fawcett and the airplane:


Here's another video with the airplane - Unfortunately, last I saw it it was not in nearly as good of shape as you see here. :(

 
yipe, he went imc there for a moment with the amount of reverse he was blowin'! I guess no worries about fod or prop damage if they were parking it. Cool vid.
 
Very cool. I will have to check that our sometime.

Here is another fun short field landing

RAF Duxford's runway is a tad less than 5000 feet. I was there the day that the B-52 in the video landed. I was standing about 100 feet away from the camera that took this footage that day. It was pretty cool to watch. I was told, this is completely apocryphal, that for the B-52 to land there the permission of the USSR was needed because according to treaties the USA was not to have any strategic bombers in Europe. I was also told that a USSR military observer was present at this event and inspected the aircraft.
 
I was instructing at KLGB while the DC-10 was undergoing pre-certification flight test there. One day an unpainted prototype 10 made a max effort landing on rwy 30, and stopped short of the intersection of 25L -- about 3200 ft in those days. Lots of noise, fuss and feathers, but it made it.
 
ScottM said:
Very cool. I will have to check that our sometime.
Click to expand...

The closest airport these days is the Iowa County Airport, KMRJ. They do have a courtesy car available, and there are tours of the Don Q Inn every Saturday and Sunday at 3 PM according to their web site.

To see it from the air, just find KMRJ on the sectional, Dodgeville is very visible just to the northeast, and the Don Q Inn is on the highway leading out of town to the north, with the runway still visible from the air as well.
 
ScottM said:
Very cool. I will have to check that our sometime.

Here is another fun short field landing

RAF Duxford's runway is a tad less than 5000 feet. I was there the day that the B-52 in the video landed. I was standing about 100 feet away from the camera that took this footage that day. It was pretty cool to watch. I was told, this is completely apocryphal, that for the B-52 to land there the permission of the USSR was needed because according to treaties the USA was not to have any strategic bombers in Europe. I was also told that a USSR military observer was present at this event and inspected the aircraft.
Click to expand...


"...and to ensure a safe landing it carried minimum fuel reserves and was stripped of all necessary (sic) equipment. [0:16]" :hairraise:

Guess British media are no better than American media!
 
Boeing 3-engine jet airliner lands on 2800ft strip!

 
Last edited:
Steve said:
That's gotta be a hoax....there is no Meigs Field!!!!
Click to expand...

Sure there is. We just learned that they're rehabbing birds that had CFIT incidents in paper bags in the control tower. (Really!)
 
Grummans everywhere rejoice.
 
Anthony said:
Grummans everywhere rejoice.
Click to expand...
There does seem to be a lot Grummans around


attachment.php


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_LLV

The Grumman Long Life Vehicle or LLV is a light transport truck designed for and primarily used by the United States Postal Service.
In the United States, it is the most common vehicle used by letter carriers for curbside and residential delivery of mail, replacing the previous standard letter-carrier vehicle, the Jeep DJ-5. It entered service in 1987. The USPS purchased over 100,000 of these vehicles, of which the last was purchased in 1994.[1] A number were also sold to Canada, Mexico, and several other countries.
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • Small_USPS_Truck.jpg
    Small_USPS_Truck.jpg
    110.3 KB · Views: 91
almost weird to hear actual journalism in that vid.
 
i wonder what the USPS is going to do with all the LLV's. My dad would love to have a few for delivering pizzas. In fact he has wanted one for years but of course they don't get sold. Back in the 70's my grandpa had a postal jeep for delivering pizzas. they beat the hell out of that thing and it just kept running.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top