SAN ANTONIO – Joint Base San Antonio -- Lackland had to make extra hangar space available for Friday’s new addition. The Alamo Wing was the first reserve wing in the Air Force to receive a C-5 Super Galaxy. At Friday's ceremony, officials revealed that the plane would be named the City of San Antonio.
Maj. Gen. John Flournoy Jr., commander of the 4th Air Force, flew in the plane on Friday from New York.
"This is like flying an apartment complex around--it’s quite different. But the technology inside of that airplane is really what makes it what it is," Flournoy said.
433rd Airlift Wing Commander Col. Thomas Smith, who also made the flight with Flournoy, said that despite being such a big plane, the Super Galaxy has a quickness and climbing ability comparable to a commercial airliner.
"We climbed to cruise at flight level 3-8-0 which is 38,000 feet and leveled off at about the 13-minute point after take-off," said Smith.
The country’s largest military plane has a 222-foot wingspan and a maximum payload of 285,000 pounds. It can hold up to 51,000 gallons of gas.
Another way to compare the plane’s size: it can carry six Apache helicopters below and 75 passengers in the top part of the plane.
"We can go further distances. So we can fly and take off from San Antonio and fly direct into the theater to deliver the troops if we need to," Smith said.
The plane has received upgrades to modernize it.
"We could use this aircraft tomorrow," Smith said.