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Anunta-ma cand e disponibil
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Roden 332 Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy 1:144 |
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| On March 2, 1968 the first aircraft, officially named the C-5A Galaxy, was presented to the public and honored guests, among whom was President Johnson. Testing the giant new machine lasted until the middle of 1969 under an accelerated program, and Lockheed was already fully prepared for series production, but suddenly the justification for the C-5A was questioned in the country's Congress. The cost of one aircraft exceeded 60 million dollars, as against 40 previously announced - and both sums in those days were more than startling. But ultimately a compromise was found - instead of 115 C-5As, which might have been built from the total project funds allocated, the contract was reduced to 81 aircraft. Construction of this series lasted until mid-1973 and the various contractors fully complied with the order. Another factor that weighed the scales in favor of the expediency of the C-5, was the military conflict in Vietnam. The US forwarded an incredible amount of weaponry, and some of the equipment, such as heavy helicopters or heavy howitzers could only be carried by the C-5A at that time. With the end of the Vietnam War the fate of the C-5 was questioned again - the US press were highly critical of the Pentagon's bloated budget, and the C-5 in particular as an example of "inefficient waste of taxpayers' money". Despite the extreme degree of public criticism and even the consideration of the issue in Congress, the program for the construction of new super-heavy aircraft was not canceled, but the funding levels for the C-5 development plan were significantly reduced by the federal government. | |||
