Hobby Master 1/200 HL4004 Boeing C-97A Stratofreighter Military Air Transport Service "48-399"
Hobby Master 1/200 Boeing C-97A Stratofreighter Military Air Transport Service "48-399" HL4004
The Boeing Model 367 (military C-97) was based on the Boeing B-50 which was based on the B-
29. The B-50 incorporated a larger tail, more powerful engines, and numerous improvements
gained from operating the B-29. The Model 367 utilized all the improvements of the B-50 but only
used the lower portion of the fuselage. Combined with the new upper section the aircraft was
given its distinctive lobe shape. There were 888 C-97s built (counting 55 civil 377s) between
1947 and 1958.
MATS (Military Air Transport Service) began on June 1, 1948 comprised of 3 divisions including
the Pacific Division. MATS existed until January 1, 1966 when it became MAC (Military Airlift
Command). One of the aircraft MATS used was the C-97 Stratofreighter. Boeing identified the
military C-97 as the Boeing Model 367. The first production C-97A was delivered in late 1949.
The initial military order was for 27 C-97A and increased to 50. C-97 48-399 S/N 16011 was the
third aircraft produced in the first batch of 27.