UPDATE:
While, as pointed out below, the C-130 Hercules has an excellent safety record, there has been “a series of recent aviation mishaps and fatalities, including [the] WC-130 Hercules crash May 2” and the Air Force’s manned aviation mishap rate has increased since the beginning of fiscal year 2018.
To “allow…commanders to assess and discuss the safety of our operations and to gather feedback from…Airmen who are doing the mission every day,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein has directed all Air Force wings with flying and maintenance functions to execute a one-day operational safety review by May 21, 2018.
During the safety review, commander-led forums will gather feedback from Airmen who execute the Air Force’s flying operations and challenge Airmen to identify issues that may cause a future mishap.
“We cannot afford to lose a single Airman or weapons system due to a mishap that could have been prevented,” said Goldfein. “Our men and women have volunteered to give their last full measure for America’s security. My intent is to have commanders lead focused forums with their Airmen to help identify gaps and seams that exist or are developing, which could lead to future mishaps or unsafe conditions.”
Original Post:
The tragic crash of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard C-130 in Georgia brought attention to the “Hercules” aircraft and to the age of this venerable aircraft.
There are reports that the C-130 that crashed was around 60 years old and that it was on its way to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the “aircraft boneyard,” at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to be decommissioned after having undergone “routine maintenance.”
Of course, this accident is under investigation and while the age of some of these aircraft is probably a factor to be considered, aviation and defense experts are quick to point to the “very reliable record” of this aircraft.
“The reliability of the aircraft is considered its biggest selling point,” said Loren B. Thompson, a defense industry consultant in 2017.
Perhaps best attesting to its safety, toughness and performance record is the fact that, since 1974, no WC-130 aircraft has been lost in what probably is one of the toughest and mos dangerous air missions: The “Hurricane Hunters” who fly straight and unafraid into the eye of the fiercest hurricanes.
Having flown in the C-130 as a “passenger,” I must say that, as to “comfort,” it certainly does not come close to flying “first class” in our commercial aircraft.
However, virtually in every other respect, the venerable C-130 certainly has lived up to each of the numerous accolades and “nicknames” that have been bestowed upon it:
• Hands down the most successful military aircraft ever
• The most widely used military aircraft in the world
• The go-anywhere, do-anything flyer
• A Hawk of War, a Dove of Peace
• Not a show horse, a workhorse
• Proven. Ready. Unmatched
• The perfect airlifter
• A legendary aircraft
• A jack of all trades
• A total badass
• Venerable
But the most lived-up-to-name must be “Hercules.”
Lockheed dubbed the C-130 “Hercules” after the mythological hero known for his strength and courage.
In a 30-year-old book about the C-130 that I still treasure, René J. Rancillon puts it as follows:
When the first C-130 Hercules was handed over to the U.S. Air Force in 1956, no-one could foresee the enormous impact the aircraft would have on military aviation. Not only has it achieved a longevity and global popularity unrivalled by any other type, it has proven extremely versatile…it has bettered the 12 labours set by its mythological namesake with a myriad of different roles ranging from tanker to gunship.
That was written in 1991.
Since then, the C-130 has assumed numerous additional roles in several other variants and has maintained or improved its already impressive “old” capabilities.
The new C-130J “Super Hercules” alone comes in 11 variants, can support 17 different mission requirements and has set 54 world aviation records.
According to Lockheed Martin historian Jeff Rhodes, “[The C-130 is] an ambulance, it’s a gunship, it drops paratroopers, it carries cargo, it’s a TV broadcast system, it’s launched drones, and caught satellites. You name it, the Hercules has done it at some point in its career.”
Here are some of the old and new capabilities and missions of the more than 2,500 C-130s that operate in more than 70 nations in more than 70 different variants:
The C-130 can land on and take-off from virtually anywhere: from the highest air strips in the Himalayas, to the shortest dirt and grass strips at or below sea level and – equipped with skis and Teflon-coated runners — on snow and ice. It has even landed on and was launched from an aircraft carrier. (Watch the video below in its entirety, but ignore the music)
Equipped with skis and Teflon-coated runners, the C-130 delivered supplies deep into Antarctica and to the Greenland ice cap.
A specially modified U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules prepares for take off at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Nov. 27, 2017.
It has participated in numerous risky military rescue missions in dangerous territory and behind enemy lines (Remember Operation Dragon Rouge in the former Belgian Congo and the daring 1976 Israeli Raid on Entebbe), along with rescuing countless civilian lives on land and at sea.
With its unique airdrop, delivery and short takeoff and landing capabilities on unimproved, “austere” landing fields, the C-130 has been a vital source of aid and rescue during devastating natural disasters, whether earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, or other humanitarian crises, “whether acting as a flying hospital or delivering hay to cows marooned by a snowstorm.”
Soldiers jump out of a C-130 over Camp Fuji, Japan.
A C-130 takes off on a dirt landing strip in Qalat, Afghanistan. (Photo by Staff Sgt. David Salanitri)
It even sprays for mosquitoes.
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A C-130 Hercules performs aerial spraying of mosquitoes over Joint Base Charleston, S.C. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Dennis Sloan)
Specially equipped C-130s assist in firefighting efforts every year in our nation, “Flying over rugged mountainous terrain, often through deadly plumes of black smoke, the C-130s must slow down to 120 knots, zoom in over targeted hot spots and drop fire retardant before quickly pulling up to avoid the oncoming ridges.”
A California Air National Guard Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped (MAFFS) C-130 Hercules aircraft drops fire retardant over Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to fight California wildfires, July 19, 2013. California Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Nick Carzis
As previously mentioned, the C-130 -—the latest C-130J Super Hercules in particular — is the airplane of choice for the Air Force Reserve Command’s Hurricane Hunters.
During the Vietnam War, perfectly equipped to carry out low-altitude parachute extraction drops of cargo, the C-130 played yeoman’s service including a key role “in the defense of Khe Sanh in 1968, when C-130s accounted for 90 percent of the supplies used by troops defending the village from a North Vietnamese siege.”
In other, perhaps lesser known roles, the C-130 has performed or continues to perform critical missions for the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command in “information, psychological and civil affairs operations.” A special EC-130E Commando Solo Hercules aircraft transmitted radio and TV broadcasts several hours a night over Iraq as part of psychological warfare campaigns as prelude to the 1991 Persian Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War.
The C-130 has even participated in CIA operations, “joining the U-2 and A-12 (SR-71) as an intelligence gathering tool.”
This AC-130A Spectre named “Azrael” is now in the Cold War Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It performed magnificently and its crew heroically during the closing hours of Desert Storm.
More roles and missions?
How about maritime patrol, search and rescue, medevac, scientific research, cargo transport (45,000 pounds at a time), airborne assault, aerial refueling, close air support, electronic reconnaissance, close air support, air interdiction, force protection, bombing missions and, yes, it is a also great commercial transport aircraft. Lest we forget, the C-130 can transport up to 92 combat troops and their gear or 45,000 pounds of cargo. 72 fully equipped troops or 64 paratroopers.
C-130 performs an aerial refueling of F/A-18 Hornets. (Photo: Salvador Moreno/U.S. marine Corps)
The AC-130U “Spooky” gunships’ primary missions are close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance.
And how about, early in the C-130’s life, the four-ship Hercules aerial demonstration team, “the Four Horsemen,” “the only team of four-engine airplanes in the world to ever perform what by FAA standards were aerobatic maneuvers.”
Even today, a Marine Corps C-130T, Fat Albert (below), supports the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team and “usually opens the show with its own acro routine.”
Fat Albert flies over San Francisco in preparation for an air show scheduled during San Francisco Fleet Week 2011 on Oct. 6, 2011. (MC3 Andrew Johnson/Navy)
And, lest we forget, the C-130 can transport up to 128 combat troops or 92 paratroopers, perhaps not as comfortably as in a commercial aircraft, but certainly on time, reliably and safely.
The Military Times mentions how a Vietnam Air Force C-130, on April 19, 1975, “the last fixed-wing flight out of Saigon,” carried 452 passengers plus a crew of one: “Fleeing Vietnamese and American dependents, civilians and children. Thirty-two of them jammed onto the flight deck alone, and a second C-130 pilot aboard the flight couldn’t get through them to reach the copilot seat.”
That is the Lockheed “Herc,” a truly venerable aircraft.
Lead image: An AC-130U Gunship from the 4th Special Operations Squadron jettisons flares. (Senior Airman Julianne Showalter/Air Force)
Sources:
Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules
Why the C-130 is such a badass plane
For an excellent backgrounder on the C-130 please read this.
Disclosure: In a previous life, the author worked for the Lockheed Corporation (now Lockheed-Martin) supporting the marketing of Lockheed aircraft — including the C-130 — and of aircraft maintenance business interests in Europe and the Far East.
