Warbird Information Exchange

I have recently picked up a "Preliminary C-141A Flight Manual" dated 17 March 1964. Is a preliminary flight manual for when an aircraft is 'pre-production' or for when it is in service but too new to have all the peculiarities picked up on?

The first paragraph in section I "Description" reads;

"Scope

This manual is preliminary in nature and reflects only that information on the C-141A which was availiable at the time of publication. These instructions provide you with a general knowledge of the aircraft, its characteristics, and specific normal and emergency operating procedures. Your flying experience is recognized therefore, basic flight principles are avoided. This manual will soon be replaced with a regular manual."

It also has the following numbers on it, T.O. 1C-141A-1 (including T.O. 1C-141A-1-1) and AF 33(657)8835, what do these numbers mean?

Also, just to be a bit mercenary, is this manual common and is it worth anything (I paid NZ$10.00)?
Not that I am looking to sell.

Thanks

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Wow, has it really been that long since I last visited?

That would be an initial publication of the flight manual that was done after flight test had opened up the basic opeartion envelope, but prior to actual delivery of any aircraf to the USAF. Once the aircraft start delivering, there would be revisons and suppliments published and the preliminary notice would go away, as most of the opearations info would now be solidified.

The T.O. number defines the manual. The sequence id's the aircraft, what manual set it is part of, and the major revision number.

1C-141A C-141A aircraft
-1 ( the first ) Pilots's handbook aka the Dash One....
-1 ( the second ) 1st revision

Maintenance manuals, IPB's and SRM's all have their own dash number so anyone familiar with the coding system can go direct to the appropriate manual area to find what they need. It makes it pretty easy as the shelf space for manuals has increased as aircraft have become more complicated. At the end of WW2, the manuals for a fighter took up a single shelf in a bookcase. Today, you are looking at multiple bookcases just for the front shop T.O's. Add on the back shop and the vendor item manuals and it gets to be a rather large number.
Minor revisions, small corrections and the like will not roll the dash number, but will be shown on the revision history pages in the very front of the manual

The AF33 number is a production contract number. I don't know how to decode it, but I'd guess from all of my contract dealings that 33 defines that it is an aircraft contract.

Thanks Cvairwerks, I appreciate the clarification.

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Wow, has it really been that long since I last visited?

Correction; 1C-141A-1 is the flight manual, 1C-141A-1-1 is the performance manual to go along with the flight manual. It has all of the graphs and distance charts to plan flights. Revisions are denoted by "Change 1", "Change 2", etc. When a change comes out only the pages that have a change will be replaced. After many revisions they will usually publish a whole new flight manual.