DC10FE

It seems that an awful lot of members start their threads with "it's been quite a while, but." I'm part of that group (27+ years since I've been on a military C-130), but as I remember, one of those switches also controlled how many degrees the APU door would open on the ground and inflight. Don R.

On the commercial Hercs I flew, it was takeoff at 1010, climb at 970 and cruise at 932. This was with the 501-D22A motors; the civilian equivalant of the T56-15. Don R.

Giz, Check msn 3959 in the gallery. It's there. Don R.

"Beer wheel." Is that where it seemed the nav always bought the beer, thanks to the loadie? Don R.

Here ya go. I don't know what the half red border is all about. Yeah, Giz, I remember the Creek Party ANG KC-97's at Rhein Main. They really loaded up on Henniger beer when they rotated home. Don R.

Casey, You have Military Airlift Command on the wheel well with an ACC patch on the tail. They both look really good, though. Also with the "LM" on the tail, it should be a TAC patch. Or was this a test? Don R.

14 years ago today, S9-CAO was shot down by the UNITA rebels on departure from Huambo, Angola. RIP my friends. Don R.

There wasn't an option for Flemish, but the Dutch language is very similar. Smaldeel = squadron. Don R.

Thanks guys. You just saved me a few bucks that can be used for other purposes. Don R.

My last flight as a C-130 FE was a ferry flight in December 1995 from Luanda to La Paz returning a leased H-model back to the Bolivian Air Force. The airport elevation is 13,000+ feet. My Filipino captain was a heavy smoker and was physically sick for the 4 days we were there. And no, we did not take O2 walk around bottles to the hotel with us. Don R.

That was a great TV show. As I remember, the AC was a physician's assistant in the civilian world. Don R.

I bought that book a few years ago. Lots of information about Heavy Chain, Talons, the loss in the Iranian desert, etc. Lots of photos, too. Don R.

Chris, Brings back lots of memories. Of course in my memories, the radome was black, the paint job was SEA camo, no externals or the SKE radome and none of those other bumps and blisters and a different pair of fatigues. Thanks for a great photo. Don R.

Jim, Forbes also had E-models in the early 1970's. In some of Lars Olausson's earlier books, he listed all the C-130 tail codes. From his 7th edition (1990), he writes "FB 47 TAS/313 TAW Forbes AFB, KS. Became wing code for 47 TAS and 48 TAS in 1972. Originally C-130B, converted to C-130E. Unit inactivated in July 1973." "FH 38 TAS/313 TAW Forbes AFB, KS. Unit activated 10 Oct 69. Redesignated 48 TAS/313 TAW 15 Nov 1971. Reassigned wing code FB in mid-72. Inactivated along with 313 TAW in July 1973. (C-130E)" Don R.

Chris, You do know that it is now Pope Army Airfield, right? Don R.

'Nuff said. Don R.

Larry, I agree that the photo of 528 looks "photoshopped." Didn't one of the squadrons also fly C-118's out of Wiesbaden? I have a photo of one with a bogus tail number. The tail number it's wearing is actually of a crashed C-121. I also have a photo of a couple of EC-97G's parked at Wiesbaden. This was before the extreme paranoid security of today. There are no fences and there is a young boy wandering around the ramp. Don R.

Giz, Back in 1958, a C-130A-II from the 7406 CSS (Berlin for Lunch Bunch) was shot down over Armenia. There's a photo of it in the gallery. Check out msn 3136. Don R.

Chris, Maybe that watch is to help determine the actual time of death. Or maybe it's an altimeter? Don R.

OK, for anyone who is interested, a friend at Lockheed told me that when they converted from the GTC to the APU on the commercial Herc, engineering didn't make any effort to get FAA testing and certification for the inflight use of the APU at that time. He also said that today it would be cost prohibitive to have it done. Don R.

George, I have no idea why the APU's on commercial Hercs can't be operated in flight; they're the same. Of course my AOM reference is more than 20 years old -- it even has instructions for operating the Omega!. I'll check with a friend at Lockheed. Now I'm curious. Don R.

It's titanium. When we got the new H-models at Dyess, a Lockheed tech rep came with them. His name was George ???? and he spent the majority of his time in the NCO Club stag bar. He told me it was titanium. Oddly though, the commercial Hercs titanium panel is painted over. Perhaps because the APU is not certificated for inflight use? Don R.

According to Wikipedia (not a very reliable source), the C-97's arrived at Willow Grove in 1963 from Philadelphia Intnl. The unit flew them until they transitioned to the O-2A in 1969. Don R.

Here's a print Casey did for me. It's 74-2063 (4655). It's one of the brand new H-models I picked up at the factory back in the mid-1970's. I had it framed to include my wings and also my 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 hour pins. I think he did an outstanding job; the detail is amazing! I wish these prints were around when I retired -- they'd make great retirement presentations. Don R.