THE RETIRED C-1 TRADER
In 1952 the United States Navy flew this aircraft for the first time. There were 3 major variants, the C-1 Trader being one of them. The C-1 (originally the TF-1) was outfitted to carry nine passengers or 3500 pounds of cargo and first flew in January 1955. Through out the 1960s and 1970s the C-1 Trader carried mail and supplies to aircraft carriers on station in the Pacific Ocean during the Vietnam War and also served as a trainer for all weather carrier operations. The last C-1 was retired from US Navy in 1988 though a few are still operated as vintage aircraft.
Although the plane didn’t seem very popular among it’s pilots (mainly because of the missions it had to fly, i.e. delivering mail) I couldn’t take my eyes off this airplane, it’s beautiful! It’s not long and sleek like the fighter jets, and it’s not huge and massive like the cargo planes, just somewhere in the middle.
