C-9 Skytrain II

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McDonnell Douglas C-9 Skytrain II

Type	Jet Transport
Manufacturer	McDonnell Douglas
Status	Active service
Primary user	United States Air Force

A C-9 Skytrain II offloading on the ramp at Naval Air Station Brunswick.

C-9 Nightingale used for Aeromedical Evacuation

The McDonnell Douglas C-9 Skytrain II is the military version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 employed in US military service. The C-9 fleet is located throughout the continental United States, Europe, and Asia. The Navy and Marine Corps C-9 aircraft provide cargo and passenger transportation as well as forward deployment logistics support. The Air Force C-9s are used for medical evacuation (these aircraft are called Nightingales, passenger transportation, and special missions. A C-9 was chosen as NASA's new Vomit Comet to replace the aging KC-135 Stratotanker.

Many of the C-9B types had a higher (114,000 lb or 52,000 kg) maximum gross take-off weight and were fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks installed in the lower cargo hold to augment the aircraft's range to nearly 2,600 miles (4,200 km) for overseas missions along with tail mounted infra-red (IR) scramblers to counter heat seeking missile threats in hostile environments.

1 Versions
2 Operators
3 Specifications
4 External links
5 Related content

[edit] Versions

C-9A Nightingale - 20 aeromedical evacuation aircraft for the United States Air Force
C-9B Skytrain II - 21 transport aircraft for the United States Navy and Marine Corps
VC-9C - 3 executive transport aircraft for the United States Air Force.
C-9K - 2 aircraft for the Kuwait Air Force.