The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, also known as "Old Shakey", was a heavy-lift cargo military aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. C-124s provided heavy airlift during the Korean War, Southeast Asia War and other important airlifts such as re-supply missions to Antarctica, refugee evacuation in the Congo and mercy flights to Morocco, Chile and elsewhere throughout the world following floods and other natural disasters. It could lift 33.560 kilograms (74,000 pounds) of cargo. Its double-decked cabin could also be fitted with 200 seats for troops, or with 123 litters for casualty evacuation. Flight crew was six. The C-124 first flew on November 27, 1949.

This C-124C variant of Globemaster was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Corporation at Long Beach, California, and delivered to the U.S. Air Force on May 4, 1955. The aircraft was assigned to the 15th Air Transport Squadron (Heavy) of the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) operating out of Dover AFB, Delaware.

The C-124C featured uprated engines, an APS-42 weather radar with a distinctive nose "thimble" radome, and wingtip-mounted combustion heaters to provide cabin heating and wing de-icing. The radar and combustion heaters were retrofitted to most C-124As. At the type's peak in 1963, there were 377 C-124s in service with 20 transport squadrons.

A total of 243 C-124C were built.