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Forward Cargo Door on C-130F


Weasel Pilot
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There was a Hyd. pump next to the pilot on the "A,s". I was told it was for the breaks but never had to use it.

Could it have also been for the NLG?

I remember when the blocks were placed in the Fwd cargo door locks and know the Hyd hand pump was next to the crew door, but I can't remember if it was removed while I was in.

I got out in Nov 66.

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There was a Hyd. pump next to the pilot on the "A,s". I was told it was for the breaks but never had to use it.

Could it have also been for the NLG?

I remember when the blocks were placed in the Fwd cargo door locks and know the Hyd hand pump was next to the crew door, but I can't remember if it was removed while I was in.

I got out in Nov 66.

That hand pump was next to the co-pilot and if you never had to use it you were lucky. That thing would wear your arm out if the brake accumulator was bled to zero.

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The hand pump in the cargo compartment to the left of the crew door was not completely disabled. It was left in place and is used for emergency hydraulic pressure for the extension of the nose gear. The actuator and the lines for the cargo door connected to the selector valve were removed/capped.

All A's, B's, F's (since F's are USAF equivalent B's) and the first 16 or 18 E's had the forward cargo door. The early E's had them because they were actually B's modified to the "E" configuration while still on the assembly line.

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The hand pump in the cargo compartment to the left of the crew door was not completely disabled. It was left in place and is used for emergency hydraulic pressure for the extension of the nose gear. The actuator and the lines for the cargo door connected to the selector valve were removed/capped.

All A's, B's, F's (since F's are USAF equivalent B's) and the first 16 or 18 E's had the forward cargo door. The early E's had them because they were actually B's modified to the "E" configuration while still on the assembly line.

Fritz: As you no doubt remember, MAC drove the development of the E because they wanted trans-oceanic range. Those were the 1962 models. After a few years MAC got tired of them and they went to TAC. I seem to remember that some were in the 464th at Pope when I got there in 1968. I remember loading something through that forward cargo door then but don't know what or why? Doesn't make much sense unless it was part of a test since I was in the Tactical Airlift Center and we had our own airframe to abuse (63-7768). After what we did to it in three years of LAPES testing I wouldn't even stand under the wing, never mind fly on it!

JL

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Yes it did. It was used to allow the removal and installation of the turret, retaction assembly and canister. It was a pain, 128 internal wrenching screws, four big clevis pins, a pin for each clevis pin, a nut to cinch up each clevis and screws in each of the panels coveing the clevis nuts.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2316[/ATTACH]

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The C-130A II Rivet Victor acft. fwd. cargo door was also not deactivated. Sometimes we would need to open it to allow the back end maintenance troops to remove/install equipment too large to get through the crew or troop door. As I recall, Big Safari issued a modified TCTO at about the same time WR-ALC issued the fleet wide one. It was a simple one consisting of wedges placed at the bottom of the door in the space between the door hooks and the door frame thereby preventing the hooks from rotating open. Not nearly as big a hassle to open 56-534s door as 55-022s.

Does anyone know if the A II acft. received the standard TCTO after demodification and return to the airlift fleet?

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"It was a simple one consisting of wedges placed at the bottom of the door in the space between the door hooks and the door frame thereby preventing the hooks from rotating open. Not nearly as big a hassle to open 56-534s door as 55-022s."

That was the first and fastest mod to come out only a few days after the accident.

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Fritz, I know the feeling. None of those acft. were the same. And I couldn't agree more about the goofy electrical system, and the enviromental system, and the nav. systems, and the ect.,ect. Of course, all the nonstandard systems on the acft. were required for the mission and worked reasonably well. But when they didn't, we often had to be innovative. The tech data covering the nonstandard stuff was, at best, sketchy.

I was assigned to the TAC/LG when these acft. begain to show up at Guard/Reserve units. As such, was privy to all the message traffic between the units and thier Hqs. asking what the hell are we to do with these bastard acft? And, I think to spread the pain, they were frequently transfered from unit to unit. Did any unit suceed in getting any of these acft. FMC? If I had been assigned to one of these acft., after inspecting it would have gone to my car and went to the club. :(

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I flew on 55-0022 and 55-0024 from 1976-79 while in the AMST program office at Wright-Pat and attached for flying to the test wing.

022 was being used strictly for gathering visibility data to be used on the Maverick missile and other TV and IR seekers. Most of the year it just sat around empty but in the fall we would fly it out to North Island, CA and they would install all the optics and computers. Then we took it back to W-P. Come winter, when the visibility got shitty in Europe, a test wing crew would take it over and fly around in various visibility conditions gathering data. I'm sure there were many uses for the data but it was explained to me that the Maverick was being designed primarily as a Soviet tank killer so they were real concerned to be able to model actual Euopean visibilities.

They had so much crap hung on the wings that they had to take the external tanks off and along with all the stuff sticking out of it, the drag was really high and made getting it back from Europe an exciting prospect against the prevailing wings.

FCF's were fun because we always had a pool on what the stall speed would be. It didn't resemble anything in the flight manual as was never the same twice. When I first flew on it I hadn't been near an A model in years and was surprised to see the four bladed props. Although at that time it still had the GTC door that meant you had to carry the big screwdriver.

I don't remember 024 having any specific projects but I only flew with the test wing a couple times a month and they also had an E model and occasionally a gunship that we all flew interchangeably. The only problem was that you had to have a complete set of pubs for each model and keep it all updated. That was a real pain, particularly when flying wasn't a full time job.

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Larry

When they demoded the B-II's we got 2 at 706 TAS NOLA and then 6 plus 1 NOLA at 68 TAS Kelly.

I flew 7 of the eight. 1532 and 1535 at NOLA and 1526, 27, 30, 31, 35, 37 at Kelly, I never got to fly 1528.

I think all were demoded and became FMC. They kept the LOX system on board. 1531 might have been an exception to FMC.

They kept that bird at Greenville for a long time until about 1981 1982 and did not demod it like the others. Last time I flew it it still had the strucures in the back and we only used it on pro missions. It ended up on the other side of the base now Lackland as an aircrew ground trainer and the back end is now back in a cargo configuration.

Bob

Edited by bobdaley
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Larry

When they demoded the B-II's we got 2 at 706 TAS NOLA and then 6 plus 1 NOLA at 68 TAS Kelly.

I flew 7 of the eight. 1532 and 1535 at NOLA and 1526, 27, 30, 31, 35, 37 at Kelly, I never got to fly 1528.

I think all were demoded and became FMC. They kept the LOX system on board. 1531 might have been an exception to FMC.

They kept that bird at Greenville for a long time until about 1981 1982 and did not demod it like the others. Last time I flew it it still had the strucures in the back and we only used it on pro missions. It ended up on the other side of the base now Lackland as an aircrew ground trainer and the back end is now back in a cargo configuration.

Bob

Bob, thanks much for the info. Was under the impression the sqd. flew A-IIs up until its deactivation mid 74. After reading the 7406 Suppron history it's clear the sqd. flew B-IIs the last several years of its existance. Which means the B-IIs were still flying the recce. mission from Rhein Main during the 73/74/75 time frame during which the Reserve Forces were struggling with thier demodded A-IIs. The fog is beginning to lift.

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