The first twenty-seven C-130As were delivered with a ‘Roman nose’, but beginning with the twentyeighth production aircraft, the now familiar ‘Pinocchio nose’ radome was added to house AN/APN-59 search radar in place of the earlier AN/APS-42. (The last ten of the first twenty-seven were retrofitted with the new radome also.) Other production changes included the installation of a crash position indicator in an extended tail-cone; wing centre-section modifications to extend the life of the airframe; the installation of the Tactical Precision Approach System; and the deletion of the upward-hinged, forward cargo door. Provision was made later for some C-l 30As to carry two 500-US gallon (1,893 litre) auxiliary fuel tanks in the fuselage, while others were equipped to carry a 450-gallon (1,703 litre) non-jettisonable pylon tank beneath each wing outboard of the engines.
The C-130A was first flown at Marietta on 7 April 1955. Starting in October 1956, 192 C-130As were delivered to the USAF and fourteen modified RC-130As were acquired. Beginning in December 1958, twelve C-130As powered by T56-A-lls were delivered to the RAAF, who operated the type for twenty years. Thirty-five C-130As were modified to AC-130A, C-130A-H, DC-130A, GC-130A, JC-130A, NC-130A, RC-130A, TC-130A, C-130D, C-130D-6 and RC-130S configurations. Two C-130As (55-046 and 55-048) were temporarily fitted with underwing refuelling pods for evaluation by the USMC.
In 1986 a NC-130A (55-022) belonging to the 4950th Test Wing, Aeronautical Systems Division (ASD) was modified as a sensor and seeker testbed for terminally-guided air-to-ground missiles. For that purpose, the aircraft was fitted with a retractable, gimballed ventral turret for the airborne seeker evaluation test system (ASETS). During the same year, two C-130As were specially configured for aerial spray operations to replace the unit’s Fairchild UC-123Ks. The last C-130As in military service equipped the 155th TAS, Tennessee ANG; they were replaced by C-141Bs in 1991. Outside the military, many have been converted for civil use and as forestry tankers.
AC-130A-LM
54-1626, an early production JC-130A was first evaluated as a ‘gunship’ under Project ‘Gunboat’, beginning on 6 June 1967. The AC-130A, sometimes referred to as ‘Plain Jane’, was modified by the Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command, at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio to carry four General Electric 20 mm M-61 cannon mounted on the port side of the fuselage, to fire obliquely downward. The following were also installed: Starlight Scope (a night observation device), sidelooking radar, a computerized fire-control system, a beacon tracker, DF homing instrumentation, FM radio transceiver and an inert tank system; in addition, a semi-automatic flare dispenser and a steerable 1.5 million candlepower AN/AVQ-8 searchlight containing two Xenon arc lights (infra-red and ultraviolet) were mounted on the aft ramp. ‘Plain Jane’ was battle-tested in south-east Asia during October-December 1967 and from February-November 1968. It proved so successful that the Pentagon awarded a contract to LTV Electrosystems of Greenville, Texas, for the modification of seven more JC-130As to AC-130A configuration. Delivered between August and December 1968, they differed from the prototype in being fitted with improved systems, including the AN/AAD-4 SLIR (side-looking infra-red) and AN/APQ-136 moving target indicator (MTI) sensors and an AN/AWG-13 analogue computer. Used in the fighting in south-east Asia, the AC-130As proved very effective, especially against vehicles along the Hó Chi Minh Trail at night.
C-130A (55-0011) was modified under the ‘Super Chicken’ or ‘Surprise Package’ programme to meet a requirement for improved all-weather capability and with larger guns. The ‘Surprise Package’/’Cornet Surprise’/’Super Chicken’ AC-130As carried two 7.62 mm guns, two 20mm cannon forward and two 40mm Bofors clip-fed cannon aft of the wheel fairing. An AN/ASD-5 ‘Black Crow’ truck ignition sensor was installed in the prototype, but was not originally included in the subsequent aircraft. Also fitted were Motorola AN/APQ-133 beacon tracking radar and an AN/ASQ-24A stabilized tracking set containing ASQ-145 LLLTV (low light-level television).
Nine further C-130As were modified to the AC-130A ‘Pave Pronto’ configuration with AN/ASD-5 ‘Black Crow’ truck ignition sensor reinstated; also the AN/ASQ-24A stabilized tracking set with AN/AVQ-18 laser designator and bomb damage assessment camera, SUU-42 flare ejection pods, dual AN/ALQ-87 ECM pods under the wings and some other improvements. The earlier AC-130As were retrospectively brought up to ‘Pave Pronto’ and ‘Pave Pronto Plus’ standard. In south-east Asia the AC-130As used their laser designation/rangefinder equipment to mark targets for F-4 Phantoms carrying laser-guided bombs (LGBs). Five were destroyed in combat between 1969 and 1972.
The eighteen C-130A/JC-130As modified as gunships were 53-3129, 54-1623, 54-1625/1630, 55-011, 55-014, 55-029, 55-040, 55-043/044, 55-046, 56-469, 56-490 and 56-509.
CM30A-II-LM
Twelve C-130A-II COMINT/SIGINT (communications intelligence/signals intelligence gathering) versions obtained, beginning in late 1957, by modifying C-130As (54-1637, 56-0484, 560524/0525, 56-0528, 56-0530, 56-0534/0535, 56-0537/ 0538 and 56-0540/0541). Each was fitted with direction finders, pulse and signal analysers, receivers and recorders and was capable of accommodating twelve to fifteen ECM operators. Up until about 1971 the C-130A-IIs were operated by the 7406th Operations Squadron, 7407th Combat Support Wing, at Rhein-Main AB in West Germany and from Athens, Greece on Operation ‘Creek Misty’ and other eavesdropping missions along the Iron Curtain and in the Middle East. 56-0528 was shot down by Soviet fighters over Armenia during an eavesdropping sortie on 2 September 1958. All remaining C-130A-IIs were replaced by C-130B-IIs in 1971.
DC-130A-LM
In 1957 two C-130As (57-496 and 57-497) were modified as drone directors to carry, launch and direct remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) such as the Ryan Firebee drone. These were followed in the 1960s by 56-491, 56-514, 56-527, 56-461 and 57-523 (an ex-RL-130A) and a C-130D (55-021). Originally these were designated GC-130A but from 1962 all were known as DC-130A. The DC-130A carries four drones beneath the wings, with specialized guidance equipment operators in the fuselage. The first two DC-130As were transferred to the USN as BuNos 158228/158229. Many had their original Pinocchio nose’ replaced with an extended (thimble) nose radome housing the AN/APN-45 and some had an added microwave guidance system in an undernose (chin) radome. Beginning in 1969 five DC-130As were transferred to the USN and to VC-3, where they were giver BuNos 158228, 158229, 560514, 570496 and 570497. Following Navy service, the last three were operated under contract first by Lockheed Aircraft Service and then by Flight Systems Inc. from Mojave Airport, California.
QC-130A-LM
Initial designation given to the DC-130As, later applied to permanently grounded Hercules that are, or have been, used as instructional airframes.
JC-130A-LM
Sixteen C-130As (53-3129/53-3135, 54-1624, 54-1627/54-1630, 54-1639, 56-490 56-493 and 56-497) modified in the late 1950s and early 1960s to track missile; during tests over the Atlantic range. Based at Patrick AFB, Florida at least eleven were used in conjunction with submarine-launched Polaris ballistic missiles. Six (54-3129, also 54-1627 to 54-1630 and 56-490) were later modified to become AC-130A gunships, while the remainder were converted to NC-130A and RC-130S configuration.
NC-130A-LM
Five C-130As (54-1622, 54-1635, 55-022/ 023 and 56-491) temporarily used for special tests by the Air Force Special Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. Three subsequently reverted to C-130A standard. The NC-130A designation was then used in 1968 to identify Air-borne Seeker Evaluation Test System (ASETS) Aircraft.
TC-130A-LM
The nineteenth C-130A modified to serve as the prototype for the proposed crew trainer version. The USAF had no requirement tor a dedicated Hercules training aircraft and so it was modified again, to become the prototype for the RC-130A (see next entry).
RC-130A-LM
During the mid-1950s TC-130A 54-1632 was modified as a prototype photographic-mapping aircraft. Equipment fitted included electronic geodetic survey apparatus, cameras and a darkroom for inflight photo process
ing. Its success in this role led to the last fifteen C-130As (57-0510/0524) being delivered in March 1959 to RC-130A standard, to the 1375th Mapping and Charting Squadron, 1370th Photomapping Group at Turner AFB, Georgia. This unit, redesignated 1370th Photomapping Wing in 1960, later moved to Forbes AFB, Kansas; it was inactivated here in June 1972. All except 57-0523 (which became a DC-130A) were remodified to C-130A configuration, stripped of their survey equipment and served as transports with AFres and ANG units.
C-130B-LM (Model 282)
The second production series of the Hercules, more powerful version than its predecessors, due largely to the implementation of 4,050eshp T56-A-7 engines which drove four-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers. Other major improvements included a stronger landing gear and additional tanks in the wing centre section, inboard of the engines; these tanks increased the internal fuel capacity from 5,250 to 6,960 US gallons (19,873 to 26,346 litres) and meant that the pylon tanks could be deleted. The forward cargo door was permanently sealed and a deeper cockpit with bunks for a relief crew was fitted. These improvements, plus in some aircraft the strengthening of the wing centre section to improve fatigue life, increased the gross weight from 124,200 lb to 135,000 lb. Those aircraft fitted with an AN/URT-26 crash position indicator had the same extended tailcone as similarly modified C-130As. A Tactical Precision Approach System was also installed.
The first aircraft (57-525) was flown at Marietta on 20 November 1958 and the C-130B first entered service with the 463rd TCW at Sewart AFB, Tennessee, in June 1959. A total of 231 C-130B versions were built, beginning in December 1958, comprising as follows: 118 C-130Bs for Tactical Air Command; forty-three C-130Bs for overseas customers (Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan and South Africa); and seventy basically similar aircraft which were built as HC-130Bs for the US Coast Guard, WC-130Bs for the USAF and as GV-1s (KC-130Fs), GV-1Us (C-130Fs) and UV-1Ls (LC-130Fs) for the US Navy and US Marine Corps. Thirty-seven USAF aircraft were modified as C-130B-H.S (RC-130Bs) JC-130Bs, NC-130Bs, VC-130B and WC-130Rs, while two Indonesian aircraft (T-1309/T-1310) were modified as tankers with underwing refuelling pods and became KC-130Bs. From 1988 Singapore also operated three KC-130Bs (720, 724 and 725). (The five new-build WC-130Bs (62-3492/3496) were remodified to C-130B configuration.) Aircraft basically similar to the C-130Bs were built as C-130BLs (LC-130Fs), WC-130Bs, GV-1s (KC-130Fs), GV-1Us (C-130Fs) and R8V-1Fs (SC-130B/HC-130Bs).
C-130B-II
Thirteen ‘Sun Valley’ IP C-130Bs (58-711, 58-723, 59-1524/1528, 59-1530/1533, 59-1535 and 59-1537) modified as electronic reconnaissance aircraft. They carried long-focal-length oblique cameras and reconnaissance systems and entered service in May 1961 with the 6,091st Reconnaissance Squadron at Yokota AB, Japan (556th RS from 1 July 1968). They replaced the unit’s ‘Sun Valley’ and ‘Smog Count’ Boeing RB-50Es used on photo surveillance duty along the Korean DMZ (demilitarized zone). All thirteen C-130B-IIs were subsequently remodified as C-130Bs by removal of all reconnaissance equipment.
C-130BL-LM
Designation assigned by the USAF to the first four ‘ski birds’ acquired for and on behalf of, the US Navy to assist in Antarctic exploration as part of Operation ‘Deep Freeze’. In USN service the aircraft were originally designated UV-1L, but they were subsequently redesignated LC-130Fs in September 1962.
HC-130B-LM
Originally designated R8V-lGs (USN) and SC-130Bs (USAF) prior to 1962, these twelve search and rescue aircraft were redesignated HC-130B in September 1962. All twelve were delivered to the US Coast Guard (USCG serials 1339/1342 and 1344/1351). They differed from C-130Bs in having the crew restbunks replaced by a radio-operator station and on-scene commander station, clear-vision panels fitting over the parachute doors after the cabin was depressurized and provision for carrying life rafts and rescue kits. By using just two engines once the search area was reached, HC-130Bs could remain on station for up to seven hours. The HC-130Bs remained in service for almost twenty years before they were put into store at MASDC in the early 1980s.
JC-130B-LM
Fourteen C-130Bs (57-525/529, 58-713/ 717, 58-750, 58-756 and 61-962/963) modified for aerial recovery of satellite capsules. Six were operated by the 6593rd Test Squadron, Air Force Systems Command at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, for aerial recovery of capsules ejected by Discovery military satellites. (Tracking equipment was carried in a radome atop the JC-130B fuselage and a retrieval system was trailed from the rear cargo ramp to snatch the capsule parachute while in flight.) At least one JC-130B was used to evaluate the Fulton STAR (surface-to-air recovery) personnel retrieval system which was later fitted to the HC-0130H and MC-130E. One JC-130B was modified as a VC-130B VIP transport before this aircraft and most of the other JC-130Bs were converted back to C-130B configuration.
KC-130B-LM
Two Indonesian Aircraft (T-1309/T-1310) and three Singapore aircraft (720, 724 and 725) modified as tankers with refuelling pods containing hose-and-drogue assemblies in place of underwing tanks.
NC-130B-LM
Lockheed-developed STOL version of the Hercules, initiated after the US Army expressed an interest in a short -take-off-and-landing aircraft. C-130B 58-712 was converted as a STOL prototype to test a boundary layer control system, having a rudder of increase chord and single-hinged flaps in place of Fowler flaps. Air bleeds from two Allison YT56-A-6s operating as gas generators located under the outer wing panels in place of the external tanks were blown over the flaps and rudder to enhance lift and controllability. However, the US Army cancelled its requirement for the proposed C-130C production before 58-712 flew on 8 February 1960 in STOL configuration. In all, the NC-130B logged twentythree hours of flight before being placed in temporary storage. The STOL system was later removed and the aircraft fitted with standard wings and rudder from a damaged Hercules for delivery to NASA as N929NA (later N707NA), to take part in the ‘Earth Survey’ Programme. One JC-130B (58-717) assigned to the 6,593rd Test Squadron was also designated NC-130B for use on special tests. RC-130B-LM See C-130B-II entry. SC-130B-LM Re-designation of the R8V-1Gs; later they became HC-130Gs and finally HC-130Bs.
VC-130B-LM
JC-130B 58-714 temporarily modified as a staff transport before being remodified to the C-130B configuration.
WC-130B-LM
Five weather-reconnaissance aircraft (62-3492/3496) produced in 1962 for the Air Weather Service by Lockheed. That same year, they entered service with the 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Ramey AFB, Puerto Rico where the WC-130Bs replaced Boeing WB-50Ds on hurricane- and typhoon-hunting missions in the region. In the 1970s eleven C-130Bs (58-726/727, 58-729, 58-731, 58-733/734, 58-740/741, 58-747, 58-752 and 58-758) were modified to WC- 130B standard. When suitably modified WC-130E/H aircraft were obtained in the mid-1970s, most WC-130Bs were returned to C-130B configuration for service in AFRes and ANG units. 58-731, a Kaman AWRS (Airborne Weather Reconnaissance System)-equipped aircraft, was the exception, being transferred in 1975 to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Department of Commerce, at Miami, Florida first as N8037 and then as N6541C.
C-130C-LM
Proposed STOL US Army version for which the NC-130B-LM (58-712) had served as a prototype. It was not built.
C-130D-LM
A ski-equipped Hercules was originally conceived in the late 1950s for service in Alaska and Greenland with Alaskan Air Command in support of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line radar stations. The fortyeighth C-130A (55-021) was modified to become the ski-equipped prototype, which, while retaining its wheeled undercarriage, was fitted with 5.5 feet wide Teflon-coated aluminium skis: the nose-unit skis were 10.3 feet long and the main skis 20.5 feet long. The ski-equipped prototype first flew on 29 January 1957 and underwent testing in Minnesota and Greenland only to be returned to C-130A configuration immediately afterwards. This aircraft later became a DC-130A drone director and was issued to the US Navy as BuNo158228. In the meantime, twelve production ski-equipped C-130Ds (57-484/495) for TAC were built
with late production C-130A airframes and powerplants. These were delivered to the TCS on 29 January 1959. Furthermore, two C-130As (57-0473 and 57-0474) were modified as C-130Ds but later were returned to their original configuration. Six C-130Ds (57-0484/0489) were converted to C-130D-6 standard during 1962-63 by removal of their skis. C-130D-6 (3203) The Harker (formerly Frozen Assets) stalled while overshooting at Dye III, 320 kilometres east of Sondrestrom (originally Bluie West 8), a US air base in central Greenland, on 5 June 1972 and was written off. Beginning in the summer of 1975 the rest was assigned to the 139th TAS, New York ANG, which operated the five ‘ski-birds’ until their replacement by LC-130Hs November 1984-April 1985.
QC-130D/QC-130D-6
Designation given to at least three permanently grounded GC-130Ds used as instructional airframes.
C-130E-LM (Model 382)
Tactical Airlift Command’s C-130A and C-130B had proved exceptional tactical transports. By 1964 the TAC needed additional C-l30 models and this requirement coincided with that of Military Air Transport Service (MATS), in June, for turbinepowered aircraft to replace part of its burgeoning fleet of obsolescent piston-engined transports. The third major production version of the Hercules was therefore designed with longer-ranged logistic missions in mind. To meet the MATS payload-range performance requirement, maximum take-off weight on the first 323 C-130Es for the USAF and the first thirty-five export models, was increased from 124,200 lb for the C-130A to 155,000 lb (or to 175,000 lb, by limiting manoeuvres to reduce load factors from 2.5 to 2.25) and by increasing the fuel capacity to 9,226 US gallons (34,923 litres). The latter increase was achieved by replacing the two 450-gallon (1,703-litre) underwing tanks of the C-130B by 1,360 US gallon (5,148 litres) underwing units, with the larger external tanks being moved to a position between the engine nacelles. Starting with the 359th C-130E (68-10934) the fuel capacity was increased to 9,680 US gallons (36,642 litres). The 4,050hp T56-A-7 engines used on the C-130B were retained, the increase in the C-130E’s operating weight resulting in stronger wing spars and thicker skin panels, as well as strengthened landing gear. The first flight of a C-130E (61-3258) was made at Marietta on 15 August 1961 with deliveries to the 4442nd Combat Crew Training Group, TAC at Sewart AFB commencing in April 1962.
C-130 Hercules Page 47
