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***image1***The Canadian-built De Havilland Caribou, originally intended as a short haul airlifter for the wilds of Canada, would seem to be an odd aircraft to be designated “the most significant airplane in U.S. Army Aviation history” and an aircraft that played a major role in U.S. Air Force heritage.
The Caribou first flew in 1958, and the U.S. Army, looking for an aircraft that could fill the gap between the Army’s organic airlift capability and the Air Force’s C-130, showed immediate interest. The Army’s problem was it had an agreement with the Air Force on the weight limit on the fixed wing aircraft they could operate, but driven in part by the fact the Air Force was phasing out its only light tactical transport, the C-123, the secretary of defense granted a waiver for the Caribou.
The Army immediately ordered 173 of the aircraft, and it seemed a good fit for the service. It had long, stalky landing gear, a slab-sided fuselage with a large cargo door in the rear and a high mounted wing with two Pratt & Whitney 1450 HP engines. It was painfully slow – it cruised at less than 150 knots – and had limited range and ceiling.
But, it had high-lift devices on its wing that allowed it to land and take off from small, unprepared strips and could carry three tons of cargo and 32 passengers
The Air Force did not want the Caribou, but even more than that, it did not want the Army to have more fixed wing aircraft.
Thus, when Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara suggested that the Air Force give its C-123s to the Army instead of phasing them out, the Air Force suddenly discovered new and pressing requirements for the aircraft. Thus, the Caribou accidentally saved the C-123, which went on to do yeoman service in Vietnam and produce the only airlift Medal of Honor winner in the conflict.
In 1962, five months prior to the deployment of helicopters, the Army ferried some of its Caribous to Vietnam and found the aircraft was perfect for the area and mission. It could operate out of tiny, unimproved jungle landing strips as short as 850 feet, and its light “footprint” – half of a C-123 − made it ideal for counter-insurgency operations. Air Force headquarters in Saigon cast covetous looks at the Caribous and finally, after much toeing in Washington, in 1966 the Air Force got the Caribous as part of an Army-Air Force agreement.
In exchange, all restrictions on Army helicopters were removed, notably heavy armament. The Army quickly purchased its first real attack helicopter, the AH-1 Cobra, and began to build today’s formidable attack helicopter force. For this reason, many consider the Caribou to be “the most significant aircraft in Army Aviation history” and “the military equivalent of the Yankees getting Babe Ruth from the Red Sox.”
The Air Force named the Caribou the C-7 and turned them over to young crews. Most aircraft commanders were just a year out of flying school, and one was Lieutenant − later General and Air Force Chief of Staff − John Jumper.
The C-7 pilots took great pride in dropping their lumbering bird into short, unprepared airstrips using an almost unbelievable slow, steep approach, and they specialized in resupplying special forces bases that were normally supplied by an occasional air drop or helicopter.
The C-7s were dropped from the Air Force inventory shortly after the Vietnam War ended, but not after having a major, if unforeseen, impact on Air Force – and Army – history.
