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 ...

An XC-99 airplane occupies a berth at Kelly AFB in this photo taken June 19, 1952. Based at Kelly during the 1950s, the huge, experimental cargo plane ferried parts and supplies among air bases.

Reporting on the first flight of the XC-99, which weighed 120t (265,000lb) and was the world's largest land-plane, Flight wrote: "It is estimated that 90,000 spectators turned up at Lindbergh ...