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Black bird picture help


bobdaley
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That is in fact 64-0551 c/n 4046, taking off from the Edwards AFB lakebed, circa mid 1980\'s. The airplane at that time was modified for special testing of an upgrade to the Fulton Recovery System (known as \"Project 46), to be capable of picking up and boarding a 1,500 lb. package. Part of the modification was to install an \'H\' model APU, and that is still on the airplane. Over 100 pickups were accomplished during phases of the program, but the project was not continued due to \'outyear\' funding issues.

On the right side of the picture you can see a large balloon used to raise the liftline.... size=353http://herkybirds.com/images/fbfiles/images/Project_46.jpg

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The H+ Air Conditioner upgrade was added in the early 1990s as part of a block upgrade called \'Mod 90\' and was done on all the Talon 1\'s. The Talon 1 fleet was upgraded to near commonality (the H-model APU on 551 being one difference, and the Fulton Recovery noses remained on the airplanes that were so equipped).

[img size=212]http://herkybirds.com/images/fbfiles/images/Mod90.gif

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Hey this brings up a question I have been trying to get an answer to for a few years. We have one MC-130P at Mildenhall that has two extra air vents facing backwards above the right main landing gear. I have been told that it had a hydralic ATM installed at one time.

Can anyone help me finally iron this out?

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Which tail number is it? Does it also have two poppet\'s in the ramp for a winch to pop into?

I know the plane your talking about and I think I was told it was an NC (?) once upon a millennium and they were cooling vents for a hydro driven generator or a ATM driven Hydraulic pump - but I cant remember which it was.

Dan

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Casey,

In reply to your question:

The Project 46 airplane had an ATM and hydraulic pump (basicly the same as the JC-130B satellite recovery airplanes)in the left hand armpit, where the standard E-model normally had the ATM/Generator. The hydraulic pump ATM was driven by bleed air from the APU. The H-model APU was added because it had a pad-mounted generator and could be operated in flight, whereas, the GTC could not. The heavyweight packages required capstan winches to reel in the load. The larger winches needed more hydraulic power than was available on the standard airplane.

The design goal was to get 30 gallon per minute hydro at 3000 psi, but about 28 gpm was where the system topped out--still good enough to get the job done. All the high pressure hydraulic lines were 1-inch stainless steel (this was a hydraulic nightmare).

The Skyanchor was modified to about 4-times the strength of the conventional unit. The Skyanchor strongback and nose structure was reinforced to support the heavyweight lift, and a new heavy-duty nose radome was designed and installed to handle the additional liftline dynamic loads. The Recovery yokes were made stronger also. A stronger/larger liftline (rope) was designed, which required a larger balloon to hold it up. All the liftline handling hardware (clamps, cleats, and even the fending lines) were designed and built stronger.

The APU and the reinforced nose structure is still on the airplane. The stronger nose radome was added to all the Skyhook Combat Talons.

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I wouldn\'t get too excited about the \'nylon poppets\' on the cargo ramp. While they were historically used as attach points for the davit on the Skyhook airplanes, it has become common practice (since the Fulton Recovery System is no longer in use) to have the entire cargo ramp, or sometimes just the cargo ramp floorboards swapped out during PDM, Mods, or repairs during Depot intervals.

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That’s 551 alright. I was the assistant crew chief assigned to it along with Mikolajczyk from 1990 till we sent it too Duke. I remember when they returned 551 to Hurlburt in 1990 so we could take it over to Desert Shield/Storm. No one at Hurlburt had seen 551 for awhile because out west working the P-46 system. We had 2 to 3 days to upload it and fly off to Woodbridge. On our arrival into Woody, we had to shut one of the engines down; I believe it was an oil temp issue. Nice way to make an arrival after a 15+ hour flight. During the entire campaign 551 flew its butt off. I sure do miss the old T1. I was lucky to have crewed Talon1’s for 10 years of my career while assigned to Hurby.

Dan M

Talon 1 Crew Chief from 1989 - 1999

Crewed 0566, 0551, 0523

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TalonOneTF wrote:

The H+ Air Conditioner upgrade was added in the early 1990s as part of a block upgrade called \'Mod 90\' and was done on all the Talon 1\'s. The Talon 1 fleet was upgraded to near commonality (the H-model APU on 551 being one difference, and the Fulton Recovery noses remained on the airplanes that were so equipped).

[img size=212]http://herkybirds.com/images/fbfiles/images/Mod90.gif

Mod-90, I haven\'t heard that term in awhile. I remember having to go out to Ontario and picked them up once the mod was complete. Funny thing was, they were never ready and I had to fly back commercial and try again next week. I was going through my storage the other day and I found the Mod-90 photo album (book) they had made at Ontario. Not sure how I came across it, probably during the T1 move up to Duke. I still have a few of the Mod-90 patches and my coins.

Dan M

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64-0565 was the first Mod 90 delivery, although there were more Mod 90 improvements as the other Combat Talon airplanes cycled through the modification program.

The next big mod package was referred to as Block 95. When 565 went through Block 95, the mods for that airplane included a retrofit package to incorporate all the incremental improvements that had been developed and incorporated on subsequent Mod 90 airplanes.

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Talon1LM wrote:

I remember those keys. The 8th SOS commander had a plaque with all the T1 tail numbers on it. As a plane came out of Mod the key went on the plaque.

The plaque--with several 8th SOS patches and all the keys--is hanging up on the wall in at the 711th SOS.

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