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Historic Herk to Museum


SamMcGowan
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Mike Welch just told me some thrilling news. The airplane in this video http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675058323_George-M-Godley_TAC-C-13OE-plane_covered-body_priest has been donated to a museum in Chino, California. The fuselage had gone to Boeing to use in the AMPS program and they were getting ready to scrap it until Mike and another C-130 vet took action. Mike is doing a great job as the new president of the TCTAA. This airplane had just come back from the DRAGON ROUGE operation in Stanleyville when the film clip was shot.

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Trying to help put together a list of parts to be requestioned to make the airplane presentable, but don't have access to drawings, nor even a basic 1C-130E-4 IPB. Need (for starters): L & R wings (outer wing boxes, bolts, splice covers, leading edges, trailing edges, flaps, ailerons, trim tabs, wing tips, engines, props, nacelles, external tanks and pylons, and all required attaching hardware; Vertical stabilizer, leading edge, vertical tip, rudder, trim tab, attaching hardware; L & R horizontal stabilizers, L & R leading edges, elevator torque tube, L & R elevators, trim tabs; and tail cone (or beavertail, depending on the final configuration). Not sure about the dorsal cover. Anybody have a good source of part number listings?

John

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You might try reaching out to the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, they have a big selection of C-130 parts/components in their back yard/parts area that are not being used, to include outer wings etc. They might be willing to part with some of these parts as they already have a few Herks on display and the remaining Herks they have are up for grabs by other organizations/museums.

(478) 926-6870, talk to Col (ret) Ken Emery.

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With a little luck, I found a (for reference only-obsolete) source for a T.O. 1C-130E-4, which is going to help a lot in identifying what we have and what we need. It may take a long time for the pieces and parts to come together, but at least this is a step in the right direction. Hopefully this one will not wind up in the grinder.

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Speaking of Robins, we're having the Troop Carrier/Tactical Airlift Assoc. convention there October 19-21, 2012. They really need to get one of the C-130Es there for display. Right now they have one of the Hs that was modified for the Iran operation and an A-model that was converted to a gunship. The Air Force Museum doesn't even have an airlift/troop carrier C-130 so far. Most of the truly historic airplanes ended up in the reserves and guard and slipped through the cracks.

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Just thinking about the process for preparing an aircraft for display---are the fuel tanks totally emptied?

Seems like using some kind of inert fluid in the tanks would make the airplane more stable, although there would be the risk of static leaks.

Do you suppose the empty fuel tanks are nitrogen inerted?

Is all the engine oil drained; and all the hydraulic fluid, just for envirnmental purposes?

Just wondering....

John

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There is an AF Instruction out there for static displays, AFI 84-103, The Air Force Heritage Program. It has tons of info regarding static displays. I got a copy but not sure how to upload it.

Sam

The Museum's modified aircraft is up for grabs...the museum director has contacted Wright Patt and told them he doesn't want it anymore...he doesn't have the facilities required to properly put it on display. Several other aircraft are also up for grabs for the same reason. Thing that bothers me is the condition of the both that particular aircraft and the AC-130 are in piss-poor pitiful condition all while they reside at a museum that is adjacent to the C-130 depot facilities. No one else has better facilities to at least sand and repaint or for that matter strip and repaint these aircraft and restore to at least halfway presentable condition as they are both in public viewing areas.

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The wife and I stopped through Robbins on the 28th or 29th of May this year. Tell ya the truth it was a bit of a dissapointment. There was not one aircraft take off or landing and the only able bodied aircraft I did see (and I didn't get a good look) looked to be, maybe a couple of 135s getting new paint. The museum was a bit of a bust, but there was 2 old decrepid 130s parked out, way out, back in the tall grass. One of them was an E model, solid grey paint, with most of the leading edge wing panels missing. Looked to me as if it was being canabilized. Kind of reminded me of when 772 broke down at Tachi in '66 and the 776th used it for a parts depot. Either way I'm really interested in that convention next year. Is it just me or are all those airmen that I saw at Robbins all kids? Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...
The wife and I stopped through Robbins on the 28th or 29th of May this year. Tell ya the truth it was a bit of a dissapointment. There was not one aircraft take off or landing and the only able bodied aircraft I did see (and I didn't get a good look) looked to be, maybe a couple of 135s getting new paint. The museum was a bit of a bust, but there was 2 old decrepid 130s parked out, way out, back in the tall grass. One of them was an E model, solid grey paint, with most of the leading edge wing panels missing. Looked to me as if it was being canabilized. Kind of reminded me of when 772 broke down at Tachi in '66 and the 776th used it for a parts depot. Either way I'm really interested in that convention next year. Is it just me or are all those airmen that I saw at Robbins all kids? Chris
Chris, you must not have seen the complete A-model in the main building. They use it for educational classes and it's not always open to the public. There is an H-model outside and an AC-130A gunship. They have some great exhibits inside.
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Not much work gets done at WPAFB area B when an acft. is scheduled to arrive at the museum. Everyone is as close to the runway a one can get. A traffic jam usually occurs as the public highway at the west end of the runway is closed. As I recall the runway is about 4,000 ft. When the SR-71 landed it was stripped of everything not needed for flight. Further, it had just enough fuel to make two passes. Not a problem as it landed on the first approach. Putting a C-130 in there is nothing more than busness as usual.

BTW, agree with Sam. If your in the Dayton, Oh area, don't miss this place. Could spend a week there and still not see it all.

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This thread is getting a little old, but thought I'd add on just a little. No Sam, we did not see the Herk inside the museum. They had one heck of a large "Flying Tiger" exhibit, that being the Burma Flying Tigers, not the CIA Tigers. And I'll bet that old clunker Herk out in the weeds was the H model you mentioned. Really looking foreward to the convention next year.....Chris

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I was stationed at WPAFB years ago, 69-70 and 72-75. during 69-70 I was assigned as a APG on JC-131Bs (later as a FM) with ASD. We did the mods to the birds in Area B hangers. We were able to walk around the refurb hangers since they were all in the same area. Similar thing in 72-75. I was assigned to "baseflight", as a crew chief and FM on VC-118As and later as a FM on VT-29B/C/Ds. We used Area B for refurbs on our birds. Got to see some nice airplanes in pieces and parts. Closeup view of Bf-109.

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