The XC-99 was officially repurposed in 1959 with a champagne reception and speeches from Mayor J. Edwin Kuykendall, Air Force and chamber representatives, says the Light, Feb. 5, 1959.

The XC-99 was first flown on a sunny day in San Diego in the year 1947, seemingly a good year for mammoth aircraft (the Spruce Goose took its only flight that same year). The XC-99 was a transport ...

As peacetime began, Douglas and Lockheed were developing large piston-powered military transports, the Globemaster and Constitution, while Convair had set the bar even higher with its XC-99 ...