A C123 wasn't exactly a day at the beach either
I remember the first time I flew in one of those dogs. Heading up to Pleiku. The noise was almost as bad as the C130 but no power. When we finally got airborne up pops a tire the size of a Volkswagen spinning at 120 mph and throwing rocks and dirt all over the cabin; if you happened to get caught up in that thing it would chew you to pieces. The CV2 Caribou was always my favorite. Quiet, smooth and civilized. The best feature was it would actually fly with the power off. Airborne? Our Drill Instructor explained it pretty well: "They are the same as you except they get to ride to work".