C-141 Starlifter Flight Engineer

Third-seat enlisted aircrew on the C-141 — ran fuel, hydraulics, pressurization, and engine management on the world's first jet-powered strategic airlifter for four decades.

The Story

The C-141B crew was two pilots, two flight engineers, one navigator, one loadmaster. When the last Starlifter rolled into AMARG, the press-release line was that flight engineers "were losing their jobs" — the C-17 didn't need them.