According to U.S. federal government sources, the official date of the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and the end of the undeclared Cold War, was December 1991. But even before that, in December 1990, the United States had begun distributing taxpayer funded humanitarian aid to the Soviet Union, via the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere).
USAID photo, date and location not given, but you can see by the 1980s Ford pick-up marked with the Marriott Hotel logo that it’s possibly somewhere in the U.S.
Russian Ilyushin Il-76 (NATO reporting name Candid) cargo planes were allowed onto U.S. territory to be loaded with Project HOPE supplies. I assume that the USAID photos seen here are from the December 1990 to December 1991 period, as the planes still carry the flag of the Soviet Union on their tails.
Tail-end of Russian Il-76 filled with Project HOPE supplies. USAID photo.
I discovered that USAID itself does not talk about the deliveries to the USSR during the last year of the Cold War, referring only to the former republics (like Russia), or the ‘former’ Soviet Union, when talking about their taxpayer funded deliveries.
Project HOPE was created during the early years of the Cold War, in 1958, by the United States. Its mission statement was to help poorer countries with healthcare needs.
Lockheed’s fast transport C-141 was designed according to Cold War requirements in 1960, and first flew in 1963. It was the world’s first turbofan powered military transport aircraft: “The C-141 has a noble record of achievement in its support of the U.S. military. Participating in every military operation from Vietnam to Iraqi Freedom, StarLifter crews have also performed humanitarian relief flights to nearly 70 countries on six continents. Most recently, the StarLifter served those affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The aircraft has served NASA, conducted Antarctic resupply flights for nearly three decades and has been a key asset for flight research serving science for two decades.”-Ross Reynolds, Lockheed Martin vice president of Air Mobility
USAF photo from July 1966, Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-141A (short) on Tan Son Nhut Airbase, Viet Nam.
Quick silent film, by somebody with last name of Anderson, of iconic comedian Bob Hope arriving in Korea, via a C-141A, for one of his famous USO Christmas shows, 27DEC1970:
C-141As loaded with former prisoners of war (PoW), leaving Viet Nam for the United States, March 1973.
Silent U.S. Army film, by somebody with the last name of Fraser, showing soldiers with The Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) boarding C-141As outbound for wargame ReForGer (Return of Forces to Germany) in West Germany, October 1973 (with some film of USAF cargo ops tacked on at the end, obviously filmed during warmer months):
Silent U.S. Navy film, by Todd Thompson, showing the arrival of a C-141A on U.S. Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Philippines, to pick-up refugees from Viet Nam and fly them to the United States, 29APR1975:
It was quickly realized that the C-141A had enough power to transport far more than what could be crammed into its slim cargo hold. It was decided to stretch the fuselage by 23 feet, creating the YC-141B.
Comparison of C-141A to YC-141B. The ‘B’ version also got inflight refueling apparatus.
Photo via author’s collection.
From the Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) Photo Shop, YC-141B aerial refueling test over the Mojave Desert, California, Spring 1977.
The stretching of 270 C-141As took place from 1977 to 1982, first deliveries began in 1979.
Photo via author’s collection.
In this photo you can see the unpainted fuselage ‘plug’ used to extend the C-141As into C-141Bs, as well as the aerial refueling sections.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Robert C. Marshall, July 1980.
C-141A still in use, Norton AFB, California, July 1980.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Bob Fehringer, 31OCT1980.
Fans of the movie The Thing, yes there is a McMurdo Station, and C-141As went there, in 1980, as part of Operation Deep Freeze.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Rose Reynolds.
Sometime in the early to mid 1980s, a C-141B leaves Travis AFB, California.
Unknown photographer, 26OCT1983.
During the U.S. invasion of Grenada (aka Operation Urgent Fury) in October 1983, C-141s not only brought in ground troops, but took out U.S. citizens who were taking college courses on the island.
Photo by Robert C. Keffer, 25OCT1983.
Also in October 1983, the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, was blown-up by a suicide bomber driving a truck full of explosives. C-141s also acted as flying hospitals, flying wounded Marines back to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany.
Whatever happened to the N(for NASA)C-141A #12777 ‘The Gambler’, a test aircraft for experimental ECM equipment destined for the B-1B and B-2 bombers? (click here and find out the ugly truth)
In 1986, climate problems caused a hay shortage for farmers in the Southeastern U.S. C-141s were used to transport 170 tons of hay from the Mid-Western states, in just one day of Operation Haylift. This video shows President Ronald Reagan kicking-off the first day of Op Haylift, 24JUL1986:
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Theodore J. Koniares, May/June 1987.
Oops, a C-141B ran off the runway on Marine Corp Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, sometime in Summer(?) 1987.
February 1991, Operation Desert Storm. U.S. military personnel pass by a Military Airlift Command (MAC) C-141B (C-5 Galaxy in the background) somewhere (“undisclosed location”) on the Arabian Peninsula. According to McChord Air Museum, Washington, during Operations Desert Shield-Desert Storm USAF C-141s were landing every 10 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 7 months in Saudi Arabia.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Theodore J. Koniares, 22JUN1994.
Two M113 Personnel Carriers are loaded into a C-141B, on Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, for deployment to Uganda for United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ duty, 22JUN1994.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Val Gempis, 03AUG1994.
C-141B delivers humanitarian aid to Rwanda refugees in Zaire, August 1994.
In 1996, NC-141A #12776, based on Edwards AFB, became the ‘Electric Starlifter’ with fly-by-wire controls. In the 1990s, 63 C-141Bs were upgraded to C-141Cs with the latest in digital equipment.
NASA photo by Tom Tschida, 20DEC1997.
In December 1997 a C-141A was used by NASA to tow a QF-106 to high altitude before release, to test the feasibility of similar launching of future space vehicles. It was called Project Eclipse. C-141A #12775 is now at the Air Mobility Command Museum.
NC-141A #12779 with ‘universal radar nose’, wasting away on the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum’s South Base flightline, in California.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2000.
Upgraded ‘glass cockpit’ of a C-141C, September 2000, during a ‘Project Trans-Am’ mission.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Ken Bergmann, 12OCT2001.
A Tennessee Air National Guard C-141 gets loaded with war gear on U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, in NATO Italy, for the start of the undeclared War on Terror (Operation Enduring Freedom), October 2001.
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2005.
Hurricane Rita final hours of an air evacuation from the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, onboard a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Starlifter.
USAF photo by Master Sergeant Lance Cheung, 22SEP2005.
Video report by Airman First Class Kahdija Slaughter, January 2015. Preserving the Starlifter Gate Guard at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina:
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Bryan Hull, 06AUG2016.
Kelsey Schmidt, Miss Washington 2016, rechristens ‘gate guard’ Tacoma Starlifter, (#65-0277) on Heritage Hill, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (click here to see Sandra Marth, Miss Washington 1966, christen Tacoma Starlifter the first time). Tacoma Starlifter first arrived on Lewis-McChord in August 1966 and took part in 1973’s Operation Homecoming, bringing Prisoners of War (PoW) back home to the U.S. from Viet Nam. The last C-141 stationed on Lewis-McChord was retired in April 2002.
USAF photo by Airman First Class Zachary Martyn, 07APR2017.
Airman conduct weekly inspections of ‘gate guards’, like The Garden State Starlifter, on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Video report by Staff Sergeant John Ayre, April 2015, 50th anniversary of Golden Bear:
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Liliana Moreno, 30MAR2018.
‘War on Terror’ veteran Brandon Jones and his service dog, Apache, pose in front of Golden Bear on Travis Air Force Base, California.
Video report by Kenneth Wright, October 2018. History of the C-141 from the viewpoint of the personnel of the 349th Air Mobility Wing (formerly Military Airlift Wing), U.S. Air Force Reserve on Travis AFB, California:
NO MORE OPEN SKIES, OR WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE OC-135B?
ILYUSHIN 76/78, RUSSIA & NATO?
RUSSIA INVADES NATO UNITED STATES! RED DAWN FOR REALS?
SOVIET HELIX BOARDS U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIER!
Comparison of C-141A to YC-141B. The ‘B’ version also got inflight refueling apparatus.
In this photo you can see the unpainted fuselage ‘plug’ used to extend the C-141As into C-141Bs, as well as the aerial refueling sections.
NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) modified a C-141A into an airborne space observation vehicle in 1975. 
In 1996, NC-141A #12776, based on Edwards AFB, became the ‘Electric Starlifter’ with fly-by-wire controls. In the 1990s, 63 C-141Bs were upgraded to C-141Cs with the latest in digital equipment.
NC-141A #12779 with ‘universal radar nose’, wasting away on the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum’s South Base flightline, in California.
