and will probably remain in production for the foreseeable future.

comes in handy during humanitarian and disaster mission.

This is a versatile plane!

and the overall design - I was involved with prepping them for their first flight as they came off the production line. (and I have also flown on them in Vietnam and stateside). One of the checkout tests was a full power run with the Herc chained to the ramp. I always made a point of being in the cockpit when this was done. What a ride! With almost 17,000HP straining against the chains, it was quite an experience!

A very good plane. Good they got the contract.

Probably 100 countries fly it. Its an important part of our defense force.

at the plant in Georgia in the 70s. Truly amazing that it's been in production over 50 years now!

I even got to work on the super-secret ones they were modifying to rescue the hostages in Iran. Imagine one of these beasts landing like a dragonfly in the compound - then literally jumping into the air again - THEN - landing on a carrier! They were REALLY beefed up to meet those tasks. Of course, they never got to prove themselves.

That was thirty-six years ago, so I guess everyone knows this.

What a workhorse. They fly these things into hurricanes. I don't know if that's true of the J-variant, but C-130s in general get that assignment.

It does the job.

One of my favorite aircraft. They used to fly out of Kessler AFB in Biloxi when I was going to a school there.

only with one hell of a stout arrestor hook built in. Further - because of the anticipated stop-n-drop landing AND the jump-n-go takeoff, the cargo bay was a jumble of big, hefty aluminum girders bracing the airframe this way and that.

And it didn't need any of that extra weight. It is a tanker b version and was empty for the first landing. It was filled with water, more for each landing, till the Marine pilot was not happy trying the landing. Never used, it nor did it ever have a tailhook.

it's what - superior? So - Lockheed slipped them a fast one when the feat had already been done - obviously without Lockheed knowing about the achievement?

Navy ship, Air Force bird, and Marine pilots.
The idea was to find a way to deliver heavier loads by air than could be handled by the standard CODD aircraft.

It clearly says US Navy on the side of the fuselage. When I worked on these planes, all branches of service were represented by various variants of Hercules except the US Army. I don't recall the Air Force having tanker versions, but the Navy and Marines sure did.

Both of which have failed me before.

Try this site. More accurate information than my 60+ year old memory.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0097.shtml

"Top Secret" footage from the Discovery Channel:

It was a bit on the loose side but felt great after it came out. At the end of the day I would poop on one again. Thumbs up

and some of the missions it has flown, especially in the Spooky or Specter configurations, I'm sure not all the pooping was planned.