Tag Archives: Hercules
SAAF C130 with a Kill
History of the SAAF C-130 with a “kill”: 408
This C-130B was first delivered to the USAF as 58-0731 in 1959, being converted to WC-130B for the weather service in 1970. Reverted to USAF operation as a C-130B in 1982 and donated to South Africa in 1996, where she still flies with 28 Squadron as 408.
USAF incident in 1966:
On 12 January 1966, in Vietnam, 58-0731 (now 408) was with the USAF 463rd Troop Carrier Wing at Mactan. It flew into Ca Mau airfield taking fuel to the Special Forces team stationed there. Just after landing and opening the aft doors the base came under sustained Viet Cong (VC) attack and the Green Berets on the ground radioed to tell them to take off ASAP. But “Wendy” Moser said “Let’s drop the bladders on the roll and keep going. We dont want to take a hit with all the fuel on board.” They taxied and pushed the fuel bladders out of the back of the airplane. As soon as the last bladder was off, Moser taxied the airplane to the end of the runway and wheeled around into takeoff position.
As as they prepared the takeoff roll, someone noticed a figure on the runway just past the area where they had off-loaded the fuel. The crew noticed that the figure had a gun, and it was pointed at them. They saw him open up, shooting into their direction, although none of the rounds appeared to strike the airplane. Then the figure did a strange thing, he jumped onto a bicycle and began pedaling down the runway as hard and fast as he could.
All four men in the cockpit agreed that they must get the VC. Moser released the brakes and the C-130 hurtled down the runway. When the airplane reached flying speed, Moser held it down and aimed at the fast-pedaling VC. Then the crew heard a “BRRRRRRRR” as a prop caught the VC and splattered him all over the side of the airplane. Moser let the airplane become airborne and came back around over the runway to see what they had done. They flew low down the runway and could see the remains of the chopped-up VC and his bicycle.
After landing at Tan Son Nhut, everyone stood around the front of the airplane and apologised to the crew chief for the damage done and for the mandatory engine change.
After that they put a sticker of a person on a bicycle under the pilot’s window as a kill marking.
From the book “Trash Haulers” by Sam McGowan.
58-0731 (408) in NOAA service:
“Despite the damage and death caused by Hurricane Camille in 1969, there was one positive side-effect: she was a wake-up call to Congress. As a result, $8-million was appropriated to obtain more aircraft for the weather recon fleet, and upgrade all of them with state-of-the-art equipment. The Air Force dubbed the effort Project “Seek Cloud”.
Under Project Seek Cloud, twelve 1958-series C-130Bs were obtained from PACAF. They were old, and some were not in great shape, but a tired C-130 is still the equal of almost any other airplane. All twelve were modified for weather reconnaissance at WRAMA in 1970-71 with the installation of the Seek Cloud equipment suite. None of them were configured for atmospheric sampling.
Only eleven of these B-models kept their blue suits, however. 58-0731 was given a temporary duty assignment to the civilian sector, with NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division. It was first re-numbered N6541C, then N8037, and was nicknamed NOAA’s Ark. It served NOAA proudly for eleven years as a hurricane research aircraft. Re-converted to transport in 1981, she then served with the Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky Air National Guards before retiring in 1992. She was later donated to South Africa…”
Source: “Whiskey-Charlie!” by Tom Robison
We Fly the C130B -Botswana Defence Force
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed. Now known as Lockheed Martin, which is capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medevac, and cargo transport aircraft.
The Botswana Defence Force received their first of three C130 B models in the late 90s as their medium transport resource.The last C130 which was . The latest addition to the transport fleet was an ex-AMARC C-130 Hercules to complement the two existing aircraft. The C130s belong to the Z10 Transport Squadron, made up of the Lockheed C-130, Casa 212 and CN235 – Maparangwane Air Base (Thebephatshwa/Molepolole in Botswana.
The C-130B model was developed to complement the A-models that had previously been delivered, and incorporated new features, particularly increased fuel capacity in the form of auxiliary tanks built into the center wing section and an AC electrical system. Four-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers replaced the Aero products three-blade propellers that distinguished the earlier A-models. The C-130B had ailerons with boost increased from 2,050 psi (14.1 MPa) to 3,000 psi (21 Mpa), as well as uprated engines and four-blade propellers that were standard until the J-model’s introduction.
An electronic reconnaissance variant of the C-130B was designated C-130B-II. A total of 13 aircraft were converted. The C-130B-II was distinguished by its false external wing fuel tanks, which were disguised signals intelligence (SIGINT) receiver antennas. These pods were slightly larger than the standard wing tanks found on other C-130Bs. Most aircraft featured a swept blade antenna on the upper fuselage, as well as extra wire antennas between the vertical fin and upper fuselage not found on other C-130s. Radio call numbers on the tail of these aircraft were regularly changed so as to confuse observers and disguise their true mission.
At Aviation Central we’ve had the privilege of also flying with the South African Airforce C130BZs from 28 Squadron based at Airforce Base Waterkloof in Pretoria on a number of occasions. A big thank you to the Botswana Defence Force for allowing us to join you during the 2019 Makgadikgadi Skydiving Epic in the beginning of July.
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