Freedom Bird!
It was noisy, it was crowded, it was hot ... I never noticed.
Flew from Nam to Japan and then back to Nam in a Herk.
Noisy as heck and not comfortable with your knees between
someone elses. Heck of a bird though.
As a trainer/fighter type who actively avoided flying anything with more than two engines, I’ve always respected the C-130. It’s a great design, and its longevity is proof.
And - we pilots love to pick on the B-52 (which doesn’t fly, it’s so ugly it scares the earth away). However, it also is a magnificent design that’ll most probably still be flying when the original design meets its century birthday. And, it’s not ugly at all. (I’ll never admit I said that.)
60??
doesn’t look a day over 40!
Some machines are built to be legends.
If my main don't open wide
I got another one by my side
If that one should fail me too
Look out ground I'm a comin through
If I die on that old drop zone
Box me up and ship me home
Tell my girl I done my best
Bury me in the leaning rest
I'm coming up on the 30th anniversary of the day I left the Army, and I'll never forget that jody! Happy Birthday, Airborne Daddy!
Lockheed has been making them for 60 years and I’ll bet that they will be making versions of them for another 40.
The 60s and 70s were the golden era of military aircraft. Many airframes developed during that era are still flying including:
F-15 Eagle (1972)
F-16 Falcon (1974)
FA-18 Hornet (1978)
SR 71 Blackbird (1969 - semi-retired and still the fastest aircraft ever)
B1 Lancer (1974)
and we MUST list:
F-14 Tomcat (1970 — killed by pure politics)
The 50s were also amazing and brought us these beauties still in operation:
C130 Hercules [of course] (1954)
KC135 [aka Boeing 707] (1957) works with the KC-10 [DC 10] 1980
B-52 Stratofortress (1952)
There are a lot more from the 50s through the 70s but you gt the idea...
(JJ — milcraft ping)
ANG unit flies ‘em out of Mansfield,right over my farm in Ashland county.Very impressive machine when flying at low altitude.
,,, the date the C-130 made its first flight: August 23, 1954."
As far as the US and US Military is concerned, this is the all-time champ in longevity. While I love the C-47 Gooney, the Herky Bird has done it all, from the arctic regions to the jungles to the sands. From pure cargo to AC-130 attack versions to stealth insertion aircraft. About the only thing I have never seen on a Hercules are pontoons for water landings. However, the design and testing STOL version YMC-130H for the Iran Hostage Rescue was nothing short of WOW!!
C-130 rollin down the strip,
Airborne daddy gonna take a little trip.
Stand up, buckle up, shuffle to the door,
Jump right out and count to four.
If my chute don’t open wide,
I’ll be splattered on the countryside.
If my chute don’t open wide,
I got another one by my side.
If that chute don’t open neither,
I’ll say hi to ol’ St. Peter.
If I die on the combat zone,
Pack me up and ship me home.
Bury me in the front leanin’ rest,
Tell my folks I did my best.
A C-130 from Hurlburt Field, flying over my house around 5 years ago.The C-123’s big brother?
It is a magnificent machine. I am lucky enough to fly on Fat Albert, the Blue Angels C-130 which is maintained and flown by Marines. Every time I ride on it to do some filming I am in awe at what it can do.
Keep them coming, folks.
This GenXer (Desert Storm) loves hearing you oldtimer’s stories.
Unbelievable!
1987. I was riding on a Coast Guard 130. It had a “Comfort Pallet” installed, basically an aluminum square that can be locked into the cargo rails of the Herc, that was equipped with regular airline type seats, only these faced backwards.
The pallet was right behind the cockpit and behind us was a duce and a half that was chained down so tight, its suspension was compressed.
We flew into a short dirt strip, less than 4000’ long. The pilot tells us we were going to do an “assault landing”. This is when the pilot comes in steep, hits the approach end of the strip as close to the start of it as possible and then stands on the brakes while reversing the props to make the shortest possible landing roll.
I thought it was the coolest thing in the world until I noticed the slack in the chains holding the duce. While the rear chains were stretched tight and doing their job, the front chains were just there for the ride, with about a foot and a half of sag in them.
I remember thinking, “If those rear chains give out, that duce is gonna exit via the plane’s nose, and we’re just gonna be a gooey smear.”
After that ride, I always made it a point to ride next to or behind the cargo when landing.
Flew from NAS Alameda to MCAS Kaneohe on one. Fast forward 30 years, my daughter maintains C-130s for the USAF.
That C130 is on display...
THE C-130 ON DISPLAY AT THE FRONT GATE OF LITTLE ROCK AFB, ARKANSAS
This C-130A Hercules was the 126th built by Lockheed Aircraft corp. of Marietta, Georgia. It was accepted into the Air Force inventory on 23 August 1957.
On 2 November 1972, it was given to the South Vietnamese Air Force as part of the Military Assistance Program. A few years later, the aircraft would be involved in a historic flight.
On 29 April 1975, this Herk was the last out of Vietnam during the fall of Saigon. With over 100 aircraft destroyed on the flight line at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, some of them still burning, it was the last flyable C-130 remaining. In a very panicked state, hundreds of people were rushing to get aboard, as the aircraft represented a final ticket to freedom.
People hurriedly crowded into the Herk, packing in tighter and tighter. Eventually, the loadmaster informed the pilot, Major Phuong, a South Vietnamese instructor pilot, that he could not get the rear ramp closed due to the number of people standing on it. In a moment of inspiration, Major Phuong slowly taxied forward, then hit the brakes. The loadmaster called forward again stating he had successfully got the doors closed.
In all, 452 people were on board, including a staggering 32 in the cockpit alone. Using a conservative estimate of 100 pounds per person, it translated into an overload of at least 10,000 pounds. Consequently, the Herk used every bit of the runway and overrun before it was able to get airborne.
The target was Thailand, which should have been 1:20 in flight time, but after an hour and a half, the aircraft was over the Gulf of Slam, and they were clearly lost. Finally, a map was located, they identified some terrain features, and they were able to navigate. They landed at Utapao, Thailand after a three and a half hour flight.
Ground personnel were shocked at what “fell out” as they opened the doors. It was clear that a longer flight would almost certainly have resulted in a loss of life. In the end, however, all 452 people made it to freedom aboard this historic C-130.
Upon landing, the aircraft was reclaimed by the United States Air Force and assigned to two different Air National Guard units for the next 14 years.
On 28 June 1989, it made its final flight to Little Rock Air Force Base and placed on permanent display.