C-130 Hercules Has Been Workhorse Of U.S. Armed Forces And Mature 55 Years Old

C-130 Hercules Has Been Workhorse Of U.S. Armed Forces And Mature 55 Years Old

(NSI News Source Info) March 6, 2009: A C-130 Hercules military cargo plane prepares to fly out of Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma City, in this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007 file photo.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It is the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 50 nations. In December 2006 the C-130 became the fifth aircraft—after the English Electric Canberra, B-52 Stratofortress, Tupolev Tu-95, and KC-135 Stratotanker—to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer, in this case the United States Air Force. The C-130 remains in production as the updated C-130J Super Hercules.

The Korean War, which began in June 1950, showed that World War II-era transports—C-119 Flying Boxcars, C-47 Skytrains and C-46 Commandos—were inadequate for modern warfare. Thus on 2 February 1951, the United States Air Force issued a General Operating Requirement (GOR) for a new transport to Boeing, Douglas, Fairchild, Lockheed, Martin, Chase Aircraft, North American Northrop, and Airlifts Inc. The new transport would have a capacity for 92 passengers, 72 combat troops or 64 paratroopers, a range of 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km), takeoff capability from short and unprepared strips, and the ability to fly with one engine shut down.

The first flight of the YC-130 prototype was made on 23 August 1954 from the Lockheed plant in Burbank, California. The aircraft, serial number 53-3397, was the second prototype but the first of the two to fly. The YC-130 was piloted by Stanley Beltz and Roy Wimmer on its 61-minute flight to Edwards Air Force Base; Jack Real and Dick Stanton served as flight engineers. Kelly Johnson flew chase in a P2V Neptune.

Hundreds of C-130 Hercules transport planes, the cargo workhorse of the U.S. Air Force and other military forces around the world, were being inspected Thursday March 5, 2009 for potential problems with nuts that attach the wings to the fuselage, officials said.

The planes weren't technically grounded, but the wing joint barrel nuts would be scrutinized on 528 four-engine turboprops, said Roger Drinnon, a spokesman for the Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.