Before the C-17 Globemaster III was the Starlifter. For four decades, the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter provided the United States Air Force with strategic airlift capabilities, enabling it to support operations around the world. The first variant – the C-141A – didn’t have enough internal volume relative to its lifting capacity. To make full use of the payload capacity, the C-141A variant was enlarged and stretched into the C-141B variant to enable the aircraft to carry more cargo.