Last Flight of the E-model Herk

[Herknav]

Legacy aircraft, last of its kind, honored at the Rock

I've seen a many places with the ol' girl, and she's always brought me home. Here's to you, ol' girl.

 

[steveno]

at Rhein Mein Ab in Germany (1970-1973) I worked on C-130E , RC-130BII and we just started getting MC-130E's when I got out of the service. the Air Force definitely got their money's worth with the C-130

 

[LTC]

I was a engine mechanic on E models at Langley Field from 1966 to 1970. They got me as far east as Italy, and as far west as RVN. They always got me home also.

LTC

 

[Lee Barner]

they are great airplanes. at one time i had a little notebook of the tail # of all the aircraft i flew on from C-7s, 123s, 130s, 133s, 141s, C-5s, a couple of 0-2s and one OV-10. haven't seen it since i retired 22 years ago. wish i could find it now to see if i was ever on that one. lee

 

[steveno]

Little Rock on several occasions had C-130's on 60 day tdy's to Rhein Mein AB but unless they repainted it I don't think I worked on it. in that time frame most C-130E's had dark green and black camo

 

[MarineSgtjimh]

Worked on the KC-130F in the early 70's. Flew all over the Pacific and parts of Asia on them. Always came back.

 

[Hurryin' Hoosier]

I've seen some AC-130s put on some pretty nifty fireworks displays!

 

[galena]

Twenty-two years in the Air Force........I can't tell one 130 from other. I just know I boarded a bunch of them over the years and went where they took me and did what I was told............I still am not sure of where they took me on a couple of occasions. In all those trips I never saw the cockpit; however, while stationed at Kadena AB, Okinawa I took my 17 year old Daughter and my then wife on an R&R to Osan AB, ROK.................my Daughter got a guided tour of the cockpit.....................you got to hand it to them airplane drivers.......
Keep shootin' and check 6.

 

[H Richard]

I road in several 130's back in the 60's, always made sure I had my ear-muff's out as they had little to no insulation and those J56 turboprops had a whine that pierced your brain after awhile. I did part of my Jet engine mech school on the J56, but never had the chance to work on any. Just B66's, F84's, and T33's.

 

[Straightshooter2]

Even though I was Naval Aviation, I never worked on a military Herkybird. I did however work as ground crew on the civilian L-100-20 and -30 versions that Delta had as cargo aircraft from 1968-1969. Delta had a very conservative max takeoff weight limit on the aircraft and one night we accidentally overloaded one of them by about 6000 pounds. In the case of a passenger aircraft, this would be quite serious. When we told the L-100 captain about being over gross and we would have to unload some cargo, his comment was, "Screw it, it'll fly." It did. Another night, we had 3 bears and a cougar going to the Houston zoo along with 17 German Shepards going to Lackland AFB. Talk about an airplane that smelled bad.
A friend of mine was crew chief on one in the Marines. He told the story about landing in Da Nang and as they were taxiing Charlie started a mortar attack. He said the skipper yelled hang on, firewalled it and took off from a short taxiway. Don't know if it was true or not but I believe that aircraft could do it. Herks were and are great aircraft.

CW

 

[COL Jagdog]

Simply put: the C-130 is one of the best cargo aircraft/troop aircraft/ paratroop aircraft ever built, if not the best -- always reliable -- I have flown on quite a few and jumped out of some -- and always made an effort to meet and thank the aircrew. One of the most interesting flights (other than trips to the DZ for a jump) was on a C-130 making an approach to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) -- crew chief tells us that BIAP is taking some mortar rounds and they may make a few
"jukes" in case anyone is around the approach area with an SA-7 --
I never would have dreamed that a C-130 could do some of the moves that that C-130 did as we came into Baghdad on the last 10 minutes of the approach, but it was very impressive to me and I am not given to superlatives. Funny part is that after we landed (without event), and had our gear and were on Rhinos (armored buses) headed to the
Green Zone, we were only about 300 meters out of the gate when the second Rhino got hit by an IED (no casualties, just some shredded tires). I had the pleasure of jumping from a C-123 (it's predecessor) and a variety of other aircraft but the C-130 is a true icon -- I am always willing to buy a beer for any C-130 aircrew.

Thanks, Herknav, for a nice post.

 

[COL Jagdog]

Alibi: Forgot to mention that one of my favorite memories is filing onto a C-130 ramp with other jumpers in early morning, feeling "pregnant" from all the gear I am carrying (reserve canopy on belly makes you understand what women go thru when pregnant),
the smell of J-4 in the propwash, that thrum of the engines, waddling to my seat and the "expectant" look of the other troops as we anticipated our exit over the DZ -- money can't buy that feeling.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I worked on them a few years and flew across country in one. Long LOUD flight let me tell you. But we got there.

 

[TACC1]

They're a great aircraft, but it takes a loooong time to
cross the Pacific in one.
Pretty impressive watching short take-off with JATO bottles.
TACC1

 

[Kanewpadle]

They're a great aircraft, but it takes a loooong time to
cross the Pacific in one.
Pretty impressive watching short take-off with JATO bottles.
TACC1

Or an assault landing.

 

[Edmo]

I spent many hours driving E models around the sky... Salute to an outstanding airplane!

With the current C-130J model production trying to keep up with demand, the last C-130 pilot has not been born yet!

Edmo

 

[jack the toad]

With the current C-130J model production trying to keep up with demand, the last C-130 pilot has not been born yet!
Edmo

That's amazing when you think about it. Like the B52, the USAF has certainly got their moneys worth from both designs.

 

[BE Mike]

There was a 1,000' dirt bird dog strip at LZ Sally, RVN in 1968. 25 miles farther north, there was a 3,500' strip with steel mats at Camp Evans. I was new in country and was watching a C-130 make a low pass at the strip at LZ Sally. One of the old hands said, "They do this all the time...they make a low pass and realize that this is just a little dirt strip and head on up to Camp Evans." Well this AF pilot decided that LZ Sally was his destination. He brought that bird into the bird dog strip, safely. After he was embarrassed by his mistake, he unloaded the refrigeration units he had on board, backed up the C-130 to within inches of the POL drop-off and successfully took off. The troops in the perimeter bunker at the end of the runway really got a scare!

 

[Tam 3]

It has been a long time, but iirc, the 123 was received at Sewart AFB a month or two before the 130 in 1956. Every one was entranced with both since they replaced the 119 thankfully.

Regards,

Tam 3