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YMC-130H Credible Sport Aircraft Update


Metalbasher
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Heard the other day that YMC-130H # 74-1686 (c/n 4669) located at Robins has had a museum express interest in acquiring the aircraft for a museum display.  No word on the specific museum; just  good to see something happen to it besides sitting in the elements and being used for battle damage repair practice.    

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Acft has left Robins and headed for a New York Museum.  Was told it left 25 June.

 

Historic plane passes through Yadkinville

 

 

Yadkinville Police Department captured these images on Tuesday of a plane being hauled through town. Though still attempting to confirm all the details, the hauler told police officials that the plane was one of two MC-130E’s used to rescue hostages in Iran, outfitted with additional JATO rockets to be capable of taking off in 300 feet. The plane is on its way to New York to be restored for a museum. YPD said they believe the plane was part of President Jimmy Carter’s Operation Eagle Claw, an MC-130E, USAF 8th Special Operations Squadron. Due to its size, the hauler must follow a specific route to New York, avoiding certain bridges and overpasses. A secondary road was missing a road sign and they missed a turn, winding up in Yadkinville, authorities said.

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Fuselage of historic rocket plane arrives in Glenville

6 July 2018

The fuselage of a rocket-boosted plane that was designed to rescue Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis arrived just in the nick of time Friday evening at the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Glenville, part of a piece-by-piece transfer of the historically significant craft from Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

The truck carrying the fuselage experienced difficulties on its journey. After getting hung up by a traffic light on Route 155 in Guilderland at about 1 p.m., it had to park on the roadside for hours because its permit did not allow for transport during rush hour between 4 and 6 p.m. The truck then moved swiftly to make it to the museum before sundown, as the same permit did not allow travel after dark.

The truck and its State Police escorts arrived at the Schenectady County Airport moments after the sun set Friday evening.

The Lockheed YMC130H, which took part in the secret operation code-named Credible Sport, “was made to land in a soccer field – to land in 600 feet and take off in 600 feet, with a full load. And it was built to rescue the hostages in Iran in 1980,” said Dan Wilson, acquisitions officer at the museum and project director of the plane’s transfer.

The military-transport aircraft was one of three C-130’s retrofitted — with rocket engines and aerodynamic modifications allowing abrupt arrivals and departures — to aid the American hostages, who were held for 444 days after students supporting the Iranian Revolution seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The remaining two were no longer needed when the hostages were released moments after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January of 1981, and one was stripped of its retrofitting and returned to regular service. The other, which arrived Friday in Glenville, has spent the ensuing years at Robins Air Force Base, which has donated it to the Glenville museum.

“This is the most historic aircraft we ever got, and we’re honored to get it,” Wilson said.

The plane will be reassembled this September by a team from Robins Air Force Base, he said, adding that the museum hopes to obtain assistance in its subsequent renovation from the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard, stationed at the Stratton base in Schenectady.

Three tractor-trailers delivered the airplane’s wings and tail last week, Wilson said. The 97-foot-long fuselage arrived on a fourth Friday, with two more trucks coming in future weeks: one carrying four engines, the other carrying propellers.

He estimates “six to eight months” of painting and renovation – to give it “a totally authentic” look adhering to the original specifications -- before the plane is put on display at the Aerosciences Museum.

Its rockets will not be demonstrated live for visitors.

“Uh, no,” Wilson said.

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Wonderful to see this rare bird going to a good home. To bad she couldn't have found a place at Robins AFB and been restored. Went inside the bird while it was still at Lockheed and I worked there. It was pretty well complete except for the rockets. Would love a bunch of pictures posted on this web site when she is complete. My hat is off to you guys in NY. Bill 

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