What is a C-109???

Glen · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:01 pm

Greetings
I was interested to find out what is a C-109? Somebody told me that it was a B-24 version type that carried Aviation gas ! and their was only about 200 made. Can anybody confirm this or...............not ! As always thankyou

Dan K · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:14 pm

Glen wrote:

Greetings
I was interested to find out what is a C-109? Somebody told me that it was a B-24 version type that carried Aviation gas ! and their was only about 200 made. Can anybody confirm this or...............not ! As always thankyou

Confirm.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... /c-109.htm

JBrawner · **Posted:** Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:26 pm

while looking for info on my post i came across this site.....
http://www.cbi-history.com/part_ii.html
scroll down to almost the very end.. a picture of a c-109

b29flteng · **Posted:** Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:40 am

I remember a long time ago, in a magazine article, it was nicknamed a "Cee-one-oh-boom". A few of them blew up after takeoff due to electric motor in the bomb bay area sparking with av-gas fumes. The fix for it was to takeoff with the bomb bay doors open to vent any fumes. Can anyone confirm this?

Second Air Force · **Posted:** Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:54 am

Yup, they were a hated beast. The 40th Bombardment Group (VH) "demoted" a few crews to fly the C-109 fuel carriers over the Hump during the time the 58th Wing was in the CBI. There is more than one sad story in the 40th Group newsletter that refers to lost C-109s and their crews, some simply didn't show up at their destination.

Here are the links to the C-109 Fiasco in two parts:
http://www.40thbombgroup.org/memories/Memories33.pdf
http://www.40thbombgroup.org/memories/Memories35.pdf

Scott

TonyM · **Posted:** Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:47 am

b29flteng wrote:

I remember a long time ago, in a magazine article, it was nicknamed a "Cee-one-oh-boom". A few of them blew up after takeoff due to electric motor in the bomb bay area sparking with av-gas fumes. The fix for it was to takeoff with the bomb bay doors open to vent any fumes. Can anyone confirm this?

This problem was not limited to just the C-109. There are several accidents summarized in my book where B-24s exploded in flight due to the fumes in the bomb bay being ignited by the electric motor.

Tony M.

armyjunk2 · **Joined:** Wed May 16, 2007 8:15 pm **Posts:** 833

THe girlfriends father flew C-109's over the hump. He passed away last year.

Dan K · **Posted:** Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:58 pm

Like Armyjunk inferred, not only was the C-109 a rare bird, but obviously surviving flight crew would be on the rare side as well.

While surfing, I discovered the following anecdotes of former C-109 driver Barney Young. Just scroll down to page 2 for some highlights of his time in the old see-one-oh-boom!

http://www.qcaa.org/newsletter5/newsletter5.pdf

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What is a C-109???

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