60 years since its first flight.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/1...l-magnificent-machine/?intcmp=latestnews

Noisy uncomfortable and hot,but the best at what it does.

You can't stay in service that long without being the best.

Neatest flight in a C-130 was from Kodiak to Nome, with a few stops between.

"Cut my teeth" on 1962 E models. Retired flying 1988 (contracted year)new from Lockheed H models. They smelled like a new truck!!!

Happy birthday C-130. What a magnificent bastard.

Absolutely. UPS has a flock of them.

United Parcel Service operates C-130's?

The civilian version anyway. I've seen it in Seatac the last time I was there a few years back.

Test pilot said, after first flight:

We're gonna sell a lot of these.

A great plane, without a doubt. My favorite transport. Wish more were in commercial service -- or at least those wings and engines for podunk airfields.

It's unarguably the best large utility aircraft ever mfg., surpassing the venerated DC-3 in mission capacity.

Bout 50/50 for me 123's and 130's but a Herc was a better ride anytime.

My favorite...



Loadmaster on E's in RVN, '68 to 70. They got me through 632 takeoff's and landings in Vietnam without a scratch (but I did have to run away, not walk, from 2 of them !!)

10,000 pound kiss, on it's way out the door (We did a lot more than haul trash !!)..



My Car...




My Plate...

God a'mighty, I am getting old. Great ol' bird that.

BGUNN, I think your C-130 needs the props resynced!!!

Exited several while in flight!

Loaded more than a few OH-58D's on them as well.

Great aircraft.

mike

I know of one that didn't quite make it to 60.

I watched one do THIS one time.....



...I was impressed

Birdwatcher

I am too, Birdy

They crashed this one. The rest worked. It is a shame it didn't get a chance to haul the US Embassy in Iran's hostages to freedom

I saw Fat Albert do that too. It's really impressive.

You know the "In Country Start-up Checklist"....

"Kick the tires, and light the fires, lets get the hell out of here !!"

Or like the new Nav said when heading into heavy ground fire... "Lets do a 360, and get the hell out of here"



This happened to a crew from my squadron (50th) at CCK

Kaboom at Katum

They all lived !!!

Great Plane...

That's a great read.
Thanx for posting.

They even managed to get the on and off a Carrier a time or two! Truely a fantastic old work horse...

A true testament to the team that designed this rock solid plane. Locally, the Herc's are flown by the 133rd Airlift Wing of the Minnesota Air National Guard and have flown many missions locally, and all over the world. It is a reassuring sight to see the big heavy haulers lumbering along in the skies above. We are very lucky to have such a reliable workhorse in our arsenal.

don't forget cold. unless you were near one of the heaters up front. then you roasted. i flew a lot of cross-the-pond flights with the web seats and after the first time, i wore longjohns, wore my shooting muffs and brought my own lunch. and it always seemed to me that 130 pilots thought they were flying an F15 or something. maybe it was just to give us guys in the back a thrill.

[quote=rem141r}don't forget cold. unless you were near one of the heaters up front. then you roasted. i flew a lot of cross-the-pond flights with the web seats and after the first time, i wore longjohns, wore my shooting muffs and brought my own lunch. and it always seemed to me that 130 pilots thought they were flying an F15 or something. maybe it was just to give us guys in the back a thrill. [/quote]

I seem to recall the toilets in "cattle class" weren't exactly "luxury" either!

Do you remember the tail # on this bird?

It crashed in Afghanistan IIRC and they couldn't get it repaired to fly back out.

C-130E 62-1861, c/n 3825

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...olving_the_Lockheed_C-130_Hercules#1960s