C-130 Hercules

by Martin W Bowman

  UN L-100-20 Hercules at Entebbe in Uganda.

  Yemen

  Yemenia, Sanaa (C-130H).

  Zambia

  Five L-100s have been used by the Zambian government and Zambia Air Cargoes and possibly the air force, too. 4109 was destroyed in a ground collision with 4137 at Ndola on 11 April 1968. 4209, operated by ZAC from April 1964 until 1969, was sold by the insurance company to AIA; it was destroyed on the ground when the cargo exploded at Galbraigh Lake on 30 August 1974, 4101 was operated on lease by ZAC from August 1968 until early 1969. It was modified to L-100-30 configuration in 1972 and, after being operated by several users, was destroyed on the ground at Caafunfo, Angola, during a UNITA guerrilla attack on 29 December 1984. C/No. 4129 Alexander was bought by ZAC in 1966 and sold to Maple Leaf Leasing in 1969. It was rebuilt as L-100-20 and enjoyed a colourful career with St. Lucia Airways, operating as ‘Juicy Lucy’ transports to UNITA and ‘Grey Ghost’ in Tepper Aviation; it crash-landed at Jamba in Angola on 27 November 1989.

  Lockheed Martin’s LM-100J completed its debut flight from Marietta, Georgia on 25 May 2017, just over three months after the commercial freighter was rolled out at the site.

  Appendix II

  World Military User Directory

  Algeria

  The Al Quwwat Ali Jawwiya al Jaza’eriya (previously Force Aérienne Algerienne) received two C-130H-30 (CT) Combat Talons in July and August Ten C-130Hs and five C-130H-30 (CT)s were delivered between 1982-84 and an eighth C-130H-30 (CT) was delivered in November 1990. The ten C-130Hs and eight C-130H-30 (CT)s are shared between 31, 32, 33 and 35 Escadrilles.

  Argentina

  Three C-130Es were delivered to the Fuerza Aérea Argentina in 1968. However, TC-62 was lost on 28 August 1975 when a bomb exploded by the side of the runway during take-off from Tucuman; and during the Falklands War in 1982 one C-130E was shot down by a Sea Harrier on 1 June - this was replaced by a former Lockheed L-100-30 demonstrator in December. Five C-130Hs were received between 1971 and 1975, one of which - TC-68 - was used as a bomber in the Falklands War and two KC-130H tankers in 1979. Five ex-USAF C-130Bs were delivered to the FAA between 1992 and 1994. The 1 Escuadrón de Transport, Grupo 1 de Transporte Aero at BAM El Palomar, Buenos Aires, is the FAA Hercules operator.

  In February 2014 Argentina’s Defence Ministry announced plans to modernize its Air Force fleet of C-130 Hercules aircraft. The Air Force has five C-130s. ‘Modernizing the fleet of aircraft and making sure they are well-maintained is a high priority’, said Defence Minister Agustín Rossi. The Air Force first obtained C-130 aircraft in 1969. In April 1970 the Air Force used some of the aircraft to provide supplies to the Marambio Antarctic Base, which is the country’s primary military base in the region. The base was founded on 29 October 1969. It is named after famed Air Force Vice Commodore Gustavo Argentino Marambio, who was one of the first pilots to fly over the Antarctic region. Over the years the Air Force has continued to use the C-130 aircraft to supply the base. The aircraft is known for performing well in frigid conditions. Temperatures at the base are often below zero. The modernization will be a cooperative effort between Argentina and the United States. An Argentinean C-130 will be taken to the United States to be modernized, officials at the Defence Ministry said. Once that plane is modernized, it will be brought back to Argentina. The modernized aircraft will serve as a model and the rest of the fleet will be modernized in Argentina. The modernization will cost an estimated $166 million (USD), according to published reports. Once the aircraft are modernized, they should last until at least 2040. The Air Force has used the aircraft primarily to transport supplies. Once the modernization is complete, the Air Force will be able to use the aircraft to conduct search and rescue missions with sophisticated infrared radar; transport paratroopers; and conduct missions at sea.

  Air Force officials plan to use the modernized aircraft for different types of missions, said Richard Gadea, an Argentinean military analyst. ‘Argentina’s plans for the refurbished Hercules include supplying deliveries to areas affected by natural disaster, evacuating victims and fighting forest fires,’ Gadea said. The modernized C-130s will be useful in responding to natural disasters in Argentina and in other countries. The Argentinean military has a long tradition of providing humanitarian aid to other countries which are struck by natural disasters, Gadea said. For example, the Argentinean military provided humanitarian assistance to Haiti after that country was struck by a devastating earthquake in January 2010. That 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed between 100,000 and 160,000 people and destroyed or severely damaged 250,000 homes and 30,000 commercial buildings, authorities said. The C-130 aircraft is useful for providing humanitarian aid because it performs well over long distances and requires relatively little maintenance. ‘This is a legendary plane that has made history in Latin America and the world over,’ Gadea said. ‘It is a technological marvel and it has endured through the years in very demanding conditions and all climates.’

  Fuerza Aérea de Chile (FACh) C-130H CH-02 of Grupo 10.

  Belgium

  The Force Aérienne Belge operates twelve C-130Hs, delivered in 1972 and 1973. They are flown by the Smaldeel (Squadron), Groupement de Transport/15 Wing, at Brussels-Melsbroek. These aircraft have been used for United Nations operations and famine relief duties with the Red Cross in Ethiopia and the Sudan and may be seen in overall white or specially marked finishes. The C-130s have also been involved in the Open Skies treaty verification programme.

  The FAB played a key role in dropping food in Ethiopia. Having already experimented with such drops without parachutes at low level in 1973-74 during another Sahel country’s drought period, the FAB refined its VLAGES (Very Low Altitude Gravity Extraction System) food-drop technique in Ethiopia in 1985-86. A total of 677 live food drops was made at Mehoni (near Maychew) and Sekota (in Wollo Province). The overall success rate was 96.7 per cent, but during the last drop months, an average loss of less than 2 per cent was recorded due to further refinements in bagging procedures and drop techniques.

  Grain is put into 55 or 110lb nylon bags, these are then put into bags of 35 inches in size, which in turn are put into two outer bags of 47inches). When the bags strike the ground, the inner bags generally tend to burst and the contents spread into the larger middle bag; should the middle bag also split, the outer bag will, in most cases, retain the grain. After improving the flying and re-bagging techniques, post-impact damage was reduced in many cases to zero or almost zero losses.

  When approaching the drop zone, the speed of the airdrop is 125 knots and the altitude 50 feet radar altimeter. At that moment the nose attitude is higher. At the ‘Green On’ given by the navigator, the retriever will tighten the cable and the knife will cut the straps holding the load. The load starts moving. When the pallets move towards the ramp, the straps running along the tight cables will cut the D ring of the pallets. Bags leave the pallet and fall on the ground.

  The Belgian Air Force Hercules’ airdropped food using the VLAGES technique in southern Sudan, flying from Lokichokio in northern Kenya. Although the technique had to be slightly modified again - because of the terrain at the drop zones the delivery altitude had to be changed from 70 to 60 feet agl - the results stayed as successful as before, with an average of only about 2 per cent loss rates. Drop loads ranged from twelve to sixteen tons, in a single pallet row, single passage airdrop.

  Bolivia

  The Fuerza Aérea Boliviana’s (FAB) Grupo Aéreo de Transporte 71 based at BA General Walter Atze, La Paz operated on a peacetime basis as an internal domestic airline known as Transporte Aéreo Boliviano (TAB). However, it doubles as the main tactical support element of country’s military forces, in which role it is known as the Transporte Aéreo Militar (TAM). Of the eleven ex-USAF C-130As and C-130Bs delivered to FAB as from October 1988 only two C-l 30Bs remain in service. Five C-130A/Bs were withdrawn from use and two were lost in crashes in 1989 and 1994. Two new-build C-130Hs were acquired in 1977 and one L-100-30 in 1979. Of t
hese, C-130H TAM-90/CP-1375 crashed into the water after a night take-off from Panama-Tacumen on 28 September 1979 and L-100-30 TAM 92 was shot down near Malanje, Angola, on 16 March 1991 while on lease to Transafrik.

  Brazil

  Since 1965 the Forca Aérea Brasileria C-130Es, seven C-130Hs and one KC-130H) at various times. C-130E 4093 crashed on landing with high sink rate on 26 October 1966 and C-130E 4091 was written off on 21 December 1969 at Recife. One C-130E has been put into storage, another (4290) crashed on approach in fog to Santa Maria AB, Brazil on 24 June 1985 and 4293 was destroyed at Formosa, 37 miles north-east of Brasilia on 14 October 1994 when the ammunition load caught fire in the air. Five Es, six C-130Hs (C-130H 4998 having crashed into the sea on approach to Fernando de Noronha Island, Brazil, on 14 December 1987) and the KC-130H remain in service. These are flown by the 1st Esquadrão of the 1st Transport Group ‘Coral’ at Galeão Airport, Rio de Janeiro and the 2nd Esquadrão, 1st Tactical Transport Group ‘Gordo’, at Campos dos Afonsos, Rio de Janeiro. The C-130Hs are tasked with serving the Army’s 1st Parachute Division. Ski-equipped aircraft also support the Brazilian mission in Antarctica.

  CC-130H (130330/73-1591 in 435 TRS pictured taking off with JATO rockets was delivered on 16 October 1974. On 29 March 1985 130330; the lead aircraft as part of a mass fly over which included two other C-130s and other Air Force aircraft marking 61 years of the RCAF was involved in a mid-air collision with CC-130H 130331 over CFB Edmonton, Alberta during battle break recovery when hit on the underside by 130331. Ten crewmembers (likely five crew on each aircraft) were killed. The third C-130 (130333) landed safely. The first of 17 new J-model CC-130s began arriving in 2010 to replace the oldest aircraft in the Hercules fleet.

  CC-130T 130339 refuels a pair of CF-188s during a Canada to Iceland flight on 4 April 2011 to join a Task Force at Keflavik AB.

  Cameroon

  Two C-130Hs and one C-130H-30 (4933/TJX-AE, later TJX-CE) have been flown by the l’Armée de l’Air du Cameroon. The aircraft were delivered in August and September 1977 and based at Douala have been used in support of counter-insurgency (COIN) operations from Batouri, Garoua and Yaounde and also for civilian passenger purposes. C-130H 4747 (TJX-AC) burned on the ground at Marseilles in December 1989 and in 1997 was to be shipped to Bordeaux for repairs.

  Canada

  Four C-130Bs were received in October-November 1960 and issued to 435 Squadron RCAF. 10304 was lost in April 1966 when the forward cargo door opened in flight, striking the port inner propeller which threw it over the fuselage, severing the tail control cables before striking both the starboard propellers. The aircraft belly-landed in a wheat field in Saskatchewan. The three surviving C-130Bs were returned to Lockheed in 1967 and these were acquired in 1969 by the Columbian Air Force (two were later lost). Meanwhile, twenty-four C-130Es had been delivered to the RCAF. These were followed by fourteen C-130H models, diverted from the USAF’s 1973 Appropriations for Tactical Air Command and delivered between October 1974 and February 1975.

  During the period 1967 to 1993, five C-130Es have been lost, as have three C-130Hs in 435 Squadron (two of which were involved in a mid-air collision on 29 March 1985). One of the C-130Es and one of the C-130Hs were lost in accidents involving LAPES operations.

  The current RCAF transport fleet consists of 26 E’s and H’s and the first of 17 C-130J (CC-130J) tactical aircraft arrived on 4 June 2010. In 1996 two L-100-30 aircraft (5320 and 5307) were modified to C-130H-30 - locally designated as CC-130s; they serve with the following squadrons on strategic and tactical transport, search-and-rescue and training duties: 413 Transport and Rescue, Greenwood, Nova Scotia; 418 (Air Reserve) Transport and Rescue, Namao; 424 Transport and Rescue, Trenton, Ontario; 426 Transport Training, Trenton (no aircraft permanently assigned: it also operates CC-130s for the tactical Air Lift School and Transport Operational Test and Evaluation Facility); 429 Transport, Trenton; 435 Transport and Tanker, Namao; 436 Transport; 437 Transport and Tanker, Trenton.

  Chad

  This former French colony’s Hercules fleet has been built up as from 1983 when the country became involved in a war with its northern neighbour Libya; it reached a peak of seven aircraft. The former RAAF C-130A (3208, A97-208) was obtained by France’s Securité Civile in November 1983. Four ex-USAF C-130As were acquired during the 1980s, though two of these were lost in crashes in 1986 and 1987 and two more were sold in 1991. Two new-build models, a C-130H and a C-130H-30, were acquired in 1988 and 1989 respectively. These and the surviving C-130A, remain in service with the Force Aérienne Tchadienne at Merino Benitz air base near Santiago.

  Chile

  The Fuerza Aérea de Chile operates C-130s with Grupo de Aviacon 10 at Santiago-Merino Benitez. The fleet consists of two C-130Hs which were delivered in 1972 and 1973 and four ex-USAF C-130Bs acquired in 1992, the latter retain their former ‘European One’ camouflage.

  Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (Colombian Air Force) C-130H (L-382) of the Grupo de Transporte Aéreo 81 at El Dorado, Bogotà at Farnborough in July 2012.

  Colombia

  In 1969 the Fuerza Aérea Colombiana bought three ex-RCAF C-130Bs, which had been returned to Lockheed in 1967. Two of these were subsequently in August 1969 and October 1982. Eight C-130Bs were also required and of these five remain in service. Two new-build C-130Hs were delivered in 1983. The FAC Hercules’ are operated by the Escuadrón de Transporte at Eldorado Airport, Bogata.

  Denmark

  The Kongelige Danske Flyveaabnet’s (Royal Danish Air Force, RDAF) escadrille 721 of the Flyvertaktisk Kommando (Tactical Air Command) at Værløse uses three C-130Hs to provide support or the Danish Air Force and Army since delivery during the months April-July 1975. The first of three C-130J transports for the RDAF was delivered to its new home base in northern Jutland on 1 March 2004.

  Ecuador

  The Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana’s (FAE) small Hercules fleet serves with Ala de Transporte II at Quito-Mariscal Sucre. Four ex-USAF C-130Bs were obtained in the 1970s; these were joined by three new-build C-130Hs, the first two being delivered for service with Escuadrilla 11 in July and August 1977. The second of these (4748) was lost when it crashed into the Pinchincha Mountains in Ecuador on 12 July 1978 (4812, a replacement, was delivered in April 1979). The first (4743), also crashed into a mountain, 9 miles from Marisal Sucre airport near Quito on 29 April 1982, during a go-around after a missed approach. An L-100-30 was obtained in July 1981.

  Egypt

  The Al Quwwat AH Jawwiya Ilmisriya (the Air Force of the Republic of Egypt, EAF) received twenty-three C-130Hs between 1976 and 1982 and three C-130H-30s in 1990. The first six C-130Hs were diverted from the USAF’s 1976 Appropriations and were delivered during December 1976 and January 1977. The first C-130H delivered (SU-BAA/4707) was written off after it had its nose burned out during Egypt’s commando-style assault against terrorist hijackers who had taken a number of Egyptian nationals hostage at Larnaca airport, Cyprus, on 19 February 1978. A second C-130H (SU-BAH, which was carrying a cargo of ammunition) was lost when it hit the ground after take-off from Cairo-West on 29 May 1981. Two of the C-130Hs are now configured as VC-130H VIP transports and two serve as ECM/ELINT platforms or airborne command posts. The other twenty serve in the transport role. Egypt will receive two C-130Js in 2019.

  Egyptian Air Force C-130H SU-BAC 1272 (76-1600) delivered in January 1977. On 24 February 2009 it sustained substantial damage during a night time touch-and-go landing.

  France

  The l’Armée de l’Air has five C-130Hs (including two ex-Zaire Air Force machines which were impounded in February 1982 at Milan-Malpensa) and nine C-130H-30s that were delivered between 1987 and March 1991. All are flown by the Escuadrón de Transport 2/61 at Orléans-Bricy. On 29 January 2016 France placed an order for two C-130J transports and two KC-130Js equipped for in-flight refuelling of helicopters. The first two aircraft will be delivered between the end of 2017 and early2018, with the two refuelling versions due in 2019.

  Gabon
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br />   The Force Aérienne Gabonaise has just three Hercules (an L-100-30 was sold in 1989): a C-130H, an L-100-20 and an L-100-30 (the presidential aircraft), operated by the Escadrille de Transport at Libreville-Leon M’Ba Airport.

  Germany

  In January 2017 Germany purchased up to six C-130Js which, together with the C-130J of the French Air Force to form a joint air transport squadron.

  Greece

  Four C-130Hs were acquired by the Ellinki Aeroporia (Royal Hellenic Air Force) and delivered between September 1975 and June 1976 for service with 356 Mira (Squadron), 112 Ptérix, of Air Materiel Command. Greece withdrew from NATO following Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus and it was not until 1977 that the US export of arms was resumed when eight C-130Hs, diverted from the 1975 USAF Appropriations, were sold to the RHAF. C-130H 4724 crashed into Mount Billiuras during its landing approach to Nea Anchialos on 5 February 1991 and 4729 hit a mountain on approach to Tanagra air base on 20 December 1997 whilst searching for a crashed Ukrainian airliner near Athens. One of the C-130Hs was withdrawn from use in 1997. Meanwhile, in 1992, five ex-USAF C-130Bs were acquired to supplement the Hercules fleet. The fourteen C-130Hs that remain in service continue to be flown by 356 Mira at Eleusis. Some are equipped for fire-fighting missions with the MAFFS system and a few are modified for electronic surveillance duties.