35 years ago, the C-17 first took flight

For decades, the C-17 Globemaster III has played an important airlift role around the world from humanitarian aid to combat missions. The high-wing, four-engine transport delivers large equipment, supplies and troops directly to small, austere airfields anywhere in the world. The aircraft holds dozens of world records, has completed millions of flight hours and is being maintained and modernized with intent to execute critical missions through 2075.

Sept. 15 marks 35 years since the aircraft’s first flight. Learn more about its journey as Boeing celebrates this milestone and readies the iconic platform for nearly five more decades of flight.

In the late 1960s, Boeing heritage company McDonnell Douglas began work on a response to a U.S. Air Force request for an Advanced Medium STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) Transport (AMST). The resulting YC-15 prototype first flew on Aug. 26, 1975 and introduced a number of innovative features such as externally blown flaps, a system that uses engine exhaust to increase lift at low speeds. However, the Air Force decided against the AMST aircraft and terminated the program.

Although the YC-15 never went into production, much of its design was used to develop a proposal for the later C-X (Cargo Transport Aircraft-Experimental) program, which sought a larger transport that could be refueled in flight and use unpaved airfields so that it could fly anywhere in the world. McDonnell Douglas won the contract with its C-17 proposal in August 1981, meeting or exceeding all Air Force design specifications.

The C-17 first flew on September 15, 1991, taking off from the Long Beach, California, airport and landing at Edwards AFB after a two-hour, 24-minute flight. In its first week of testing, the C-17 completed three missions to document flight  handling qualities at various altitudes, check out emergency backup systems and demonstrate flap, slat and landing gear performance, among other tests. The first C-17 squadron became operational with the U.S. Air Force in January 1995.

In May 1995, the C-17 received the prestigious Collier Trophy, honoring the top aeronautical achievement of 1994. During normal testing, C-17s have set 33 world records, including payload to altitude time-to-climb and the short takeoff and landing mark, in which the C-17 took off in less than 1,400 feet (427 meters), carried a payload of 44,000 pounds (20,000 kilograms) to altitude and landed in less than 1,400 feet (427 meters). The worldwide C-17 fleet surpassed 2 million flying hours in December 2010 during an airdrop mission over Afghanistan, and is poised to surpass 5 million flying hours next year.

Painting of C-17-Globemaster IIIs by R.G. Smith. The C-17’s name connects it to a legacy of heavy-lift cargo aircraft produced by heritage company Douglas: The C-74 Globemaster and C-124 Globemaster II.

C-17 production at Long Beach ended in 2015. 275 C-17s currently operate, flying countless missions supporting tactical airlift, strategic delivery and humanitarian aid across the globe.

Boeing Global Services supports and modernizes these aircraft through an outcome-based services contracting structure that includes performance-based logistics, sustainment engineering, depot-level maintenance and on-base field services support.

In July, the company announced an agreement with AI data optimization company Pelico to modernize how C-17 heavy maintenance is planned and executed, and the Repair and Modification Services Team recently performed the first known field replacement of C-17 horizontal stabilizers.

Earlier this year, Boeing began outfitting C-17s with a new Air Data Reasoner, giving maintenance teams the ability to synchronize tens of thousands of data points to better predict maintenance needs so that parts can be positioned where they’re needed, when they’re needed. The U.S. Air Force also awarded Boeing a contract to modernize the flight deck of the C‑17 to help resolve avionics obsolescence and introduce an open architecture that enables plug‑and‑play enhancements that can be made affordably, as mission needs evolve.

Recent innovations, upgrades and strategic partnerships aim to preserve the proven, dependable airlifter and keep it at the forefront of performance, efficiency and interoperability for many decades to come.

By Allison Balderrama