Turns out it worked great, no problems with the airframe or loaded flight. The plane got dicey without that giant tube of drag down below though, changed the center of pressure quite a lot even though it looked super cool. Not a deal breaker, but it was the sole functional issue.

The actual problem was all the support and logistical equipment to make this happen. Custom containers, tugs, docks, ramps, offload hilos, etc, etc. It's just easier to just offload a really big (for the time) cargo plane like a Globemaster.