Extremely popular and highly versatile cargo bird's first flight was August 23, 1954

There is one hero that may not be the biggest or fastest, but for 50 years, has borne the U.S. standard as a welcome projection of both American will and American compassion throughout the world. In battle, this hero can pound the enemy from on high with munitions, electronic jamming or information warfare broadcasts. It can deliver forces to the fight, bring them a vast array of supplies and carry them home, wounded or well, when their duty is done. During the fight, it provides command and control, weather reconnaissance and even air refueling. But this warrior hero is also a key presence in humanitarian and disaster relief operations at home and abroad.

This hero is the legendary C-130 Hercules which has reached a 50-year milestone since its first flight Aug. 23, 1954, from Burbank to Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Gen. John W. Handy, commander of U.S. Transportation Command and Air Mobility Command, said the familiar aircraft is as important today as ever.

“As a career mobility pilot, I am convinced that the C-130 is one of the greatest aircraft ever built,” General Handy said. “The ‘Herc’ has earned its place in history through its enormous contributions to crisis response for 50 years. With our C-130 fleet and the dedicated active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve aircrews that fly them, we are a tremendous force multiplier in the global war on terrorism.”

With its first flight, a YC-130A prototype, tail No. 53-3397, inaugurated a half-century of continuous C-130 service to the Department of Defense. Test pilot Stanley Beltz and copilot Roy Wimmer used only 855 feet to make that first takeoff. Normally, an airplane with a gross weight of 100,000 pounds requires thousands of feet of runway. Mr. Beltz is said to have quipped: “She’s a real flying machine. I could land it crossways on the runway if I had to.”

Since that historic day, more than 2,200 C-130s in 70 variants to five basic models have been produced, and 676 are in service with the Air Force today. The Navy and Marine Corps fly C-130s, as do the armed forces of 66 other nations.

Testing and development of the new airlifter was rapid. Production introduced new technology including high-strength aluminum alloy for the wings and cargo floor and metal bonding and titanium alloys for the body of the aircraft and flap skins. Another new feature was the “all-round” vision flight deck.

The first C-130A became operational in December 1956, reporting for duty with Tactical Air Command to replace the far less capable Fairchild C-119 Flying boxcar. The C-130’s four Allison turboprop engines revolutionized aircraft performance, providing greater speed, range and takeoff. With a 33,810-pound payload at the time, the Herc could carry twice as much as the C-119. The C-130 could perform heavy equipment airdrops as well as airland operations. It was well suited as a tactical transport. Cargo loading was easier with the new aircraft’s rear-opening ramp instead of the side-door, steep ramp loading required by the World War II-vintage fleet.

In 1959, the Air Force completed its planned force of 12 C-130A squadrons -- six in TAC, three in Europe and three for the Far East. Continuous improvement was the norm for the C-130 system. New external fuel tanks allowed the aircraft to fight heavy winds in flights across the ocean. The C-130B introduced more powerful engines and new propellers, added fuel capacity and beefed up landing gear. A lone C-130C, a modified “B,” demonstrated short takeoffs and landings. Twelve C-130Ds, modified from the original “A,” became “Ski-130s,” outfitted with ski landing gear to resupply Arctic expeditions. In early 1960, an “E” model entered the operational fleet; an updated “H” model followed in the 1970s. The “E” through “H” models are still in service today, and work will begin in 2007 on converting those models to meet the demands of modern aviation and streamline support through an avionics modernization program. With avionics upgrades and some changes to the engines, the number of basic C-130 models will be reduced to two, the C-130AMP and the C-130J.

The newest C-130 in the inventory, the “J” model, entered the Air Force inventory in February 1999, and since then, the Air Force received 34 more “Js.” The basic design remains true to the original, but adds 40-percent more range, flies 24-percent faster than previous models, can take off on shorter runways and has greater cargo and passenger capacity. Its new avionics will also allow for better data capability and control, and requires a crew of three rather than five.

Lt. Col. Mike Cassidy, chief of AMC’s Operational Programming Division, has 2,000 flying hours in the Herc, and almost 2,300 hours in other airlifters. He said the C-130 is without a doubt a special aircraft.

“Part of the attractiveness of the aircraft is you have to work the airplane hard sometimes, and you have to know how to work with it,” he said. “The other unique part is the close relationship with the ‘users,’ such as the Southern European Task Force Lion Brigade (at Vicenza, Italy), since we did a preponderance of their airdrop missions. The C-130 is all about the mission and the people who get that done together.”

One of the people who helped get C-130 missions off the ground is Master Sgt. Albert Mikolajczyk, a 23-year veteran maintainer who has worked with the several variations to the C-130 fleet. He is now assigned to the 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell AFB, Kan., maintaining KC-135 Stratotanker refuelers.

“No other aircraft can do what the C-130 can. Name the location; it’s been there,” Sergeant Mikolajczyk said. “The C-130 will be flying long after other aircraft are in the ‘boneyard’ at Davis-Monthan (AFB, Ariz.), and the C-130 will be there to pick up their aircrews and bring them back home.”

Sergeant Mikolajczyk recalled an experience which speaks volumes. Recently deployed to the United Arab Emirates, he needed to be aeromedically evacuated. “It was an awesome feeling to be carried aboard a 1963 ‘E’ model I had worked on during my early days assigned to Little Rock AFB (Ark.),” he said.

The C-130’s combat record is an integral part of its distinguished history. The aircraft quickly earned its reputation as a tough aircraft for rough places. In the late 1950s, with Southeast Asia facing a communist take over, the Herc quickly became the armed services’ premier tactical airlifter. By late summer 1959, C-130 crews trained for Marine parachute assault operations in case Laos was invaded.

C-130s increasingly provided logistical support to the Army’s remote special operations camps, and the Herc proved itself with its ability to land and takeoff on short, unpaved runways. The heroics of C-130 crews flying Khe Sanh and An Loc missions are legendary. After the fall of Saigon, and the end of the war, C-130s were part of the American airlift armada, helping bring home 591 prisoners of war. A few C-130s also served as AC-130 gunships, and the Air Weather Service flew WC-130s as rainmakers over Laos, attempting to influence the seasonal monsoon rains to allied advantage. The Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service first used HC-130s for command and control during search and rescue operations. And the Marine Corps flew the KC-130F, initially borrowing two C-130As from the Air Force and modifying them for air refueling. Those widely varying models remain in service.

And what a service the C-130 provides. From the 1991 Gulf War through the crisis in Kosovo to peacekeeping operations in Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as humanitarian relief operations at home and around the world, the resilient C-130 answers the nation’s call.

Recently, C-130s have airlifted several Afghan battalions, national police, U.S. advisers and supplies into Shidand to help Afghanistan’s national government restore order to an area rife with factional fighting.

And in the United States, C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems are deployed to help combat wildfires in Western states, and WC-130s provided vital data as hurricane hunters over the Caribbean and Florida, collecting information for the National Hurricane Center.

These special duties, along with the daily tasks of deploying, supplying and redeploying joint service and allied forces throughout the world will build upon the C-130’s legacy of heroism as one of the premier, multirole aircraft in American history. (Courtesy of AMC News Service)

(A special thank you to Betty R. Kennedy of the Air Mobility Command History Office)

FMI: www.af.mil