large disassembled earthmoving equipment into the city to enable the construction of Berlin Tegel Airport in the fall of 1948. Though relatively unsuccessful, the C-82A is best considered as an early development stage of the much more successful C-119B Flying Boxcar. The C-82A saw limited production before being replaced by the Flying Boxcar. The C-82 was retired from the United States Air Force inventory in 1954. Civil airline operations After the C-82A became surplus to United States Air Force requirements, small numbers were sold to civilian operators in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and the United States and these were utilized for many years as rugged freight aircraft, capable of carrying bulky items of cargo. The last example was retired in the late 1980s. Variants XC-82 Prototype, one built. C-82A Packet Initial production version, 220 built. EC-82A 1948, fitted with Firestone-designed tracked landing gear. 13 aircraft allocated for conversion from C-82A, but only one completed . XC-82B 1947, fitted with 2650hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines as a precursor to the C-119 series. One converted from a C-82A. C-82N 1946, Production aircraft built by North American Aviation. Only three were completed, before the remaining 997 were cancelled. Steward-Davis Jet-Packet 1600 1956, civil conversion of Fairchild C-82A with Westinghouse J30-W turbojet booster engine in pod above upper fuselage. At least three converted. Steward-Davis Jet-Packet 3200 Conversion of Jet-Packet 1600 with two J30-W engines in above-fuselage pod. One converted in 1957. Jet-Packet 3400 Jet-Packet with a Westinghouse J34-WE-34, or Westinghouse J34-WE-36 booster engine. At least four converted from 1962. Steward-Davis Jet-Packet II Airframe weight reduction program to increase cargo weights and increased power from Pratt & Whitney R-2800CB-16 engines. Application applied to at least three Jet-Packet 1600s or 3400s, including the TWA C-82A Ontos. Steward-Davis Skytruck I 1964, C-82A aircraft with takeoff weight, improved performance and a hot-air de-icing system, one converted. The Skytruck brand-name was allegedly the inspiration for Elleston Trevor's Skytruck in the 1964 novel, The Flight of the Phoenix. Steward-Davis Skypallet 1965 A C-82A redesign with the fuselage floor separating from the aircraft from nose to tail for large cargoes and the installation of an internal hoist. Only one aircraft was converted. Operators Brazilian Air Force — the Primeiro Grupo de Transporte de Tropa (1st Troop Transport Group) operated C-82s of 1956-1969 Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul Linea Aerea Taxpa Ltda Honduran Air Force Compania Mexicana de Aviacion