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Originally Posted by Scarecrow
The USAF C5A is the military version of a B747. Those were some big pieces.
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Incorrect. The military version of the Boeing 747 is the E-4. Used for airborne command post duties, expecially way back in the cold war days, when large-scale nuclear strike on the US was a worry.
The plane most people think of as "Air Force One" is a further modiifed E-4, although "Air Force One" is a temporary designation, signifying any plane belonging to the USAF and carrying the POTUS.
The C-5, made by Lockheed, is a completely different plane. When it was originally designed and built, it had a unique feature: the front of the plan, as well as the back, had hinged doors. Made it easy to drive a vehicle in the rear end of the plane, fly the vehicle nearly anywhere on the plane, and drive the vehilce off. Saved a lot of time loading and unloading.
Thing about the C-5 compared to the 747: the C-5 is bigger.
Meaning that on the average, it carries more fuel than a 747. And this one crashed on takeoff, meaning that the fuel was probably at as close to full load as it can possibly get. Amazing how none of it went up from this crash.