HeyChief

Great list!

Only suggestions I have: 1) Reflect that the MC-130Ws were redesignated as AC-130Ws and 2) I believe the AC-130Hs were designated AC-130Es until they were upgraded and redesignated AC-130Hs.

I forgot you guys did not have SKE. I guess they came and modded you guys later.

I remember that about the Mortar fire. It was mostly Guard and Reserves doing the airlift. I know there were some active units there but mostly Guard and Reserve made up Delta Squadron...

The 37th was there from the start until the very end. The unit didn't even stand-down when we moved from Rhein-Main to Ramstein. Usually 3 aircraft daily doing 3 turns from Split and then later from Ancona for Provide promise. Later during IFOR and SFOR it was usually the same sort of schedule except turning back to Ramstein for concurrent servicing/cargo load for sortie 2.

37th aircraft took fire and damage on several occasions, from simple skin damage to nose-to-tail system damage from multiple rounds. I have a piece of cargo compartment floor in my shadow box from 0947 after recovering it with damage.

Guard and Reserve definitely worked their asses off, just wanted to remind folks of the good work the 37th did every day during the Bosnian effort.

And now with only 3 crew members, there's plenty of vacancies.

Why would that matter? I don't know many Crew Chiefs that would give that bunk up.

Universal Aerial Refueling Receptical Slipway Installation = UARRSI..and yes..it's a mouthful

Railrunner..I believe you are talking about wing flex and how having the externals on helps as far as severity factor is concerned. The last thing I remember is that SPO engineering did not have the engineering model to accurately reflect external pods off and for refueling pods (Sargent Fletcher or MCARS) on or off. I believe they just took the weight of the pods and counted that as fuel weight at that wing station.

That's 3 years ago, maybe someone on here has updated information on that

That was the other course of action they were considering at the same time. Sounds like scrapping was the winner

Someone needs to confirm this, but when I retired, Eglin was in talks with the 7th Special Forces Group to use as a jump trainer in preparation of their move down to Eglin Range. That info is about 3 years old though.

May they rest in peace

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/ceremony-51625-slideshow-.html

Here's a report and some pics of the NP2000 on the LC-130's

http://www.polarfield.com/blog/tag/np2000-propeller/

You probably saw one of the LCs that was modded with the NP2000 props and new electronic gear box. This is pretty much the same set up the Navy is using on their E-2s. From what I remember, the LCs were looking for more power on the ICE due to being unable to source RATO (JATO) bottles for when they take-off in the Antartic. Not sure if they fully bought off on doing their entire fleet in this configuration.

There should be an NP2000 string somewhere on here..big discussion a couple of years back.

I conducted a test at the old USAF Airlift Center (USAFALCENT) back in '79 or '80 to drop CDS from 250 feet using what was called the vent pull-down parachute system. The bundles would exit and the chute would pop immediately. However, according to the data we collected (velocity at load impact), the loads wouldn't have survived. MAC wouldn't provide funding to try some "real" cargo to determine if the system would work, and the Army wasn't interested in our survival in a combat environment. We never tested at a speed greater than 150 because of the ramp and door limit. I believe the old MC-130E's had an upgraded ramp and door and could exceed 150 knots with them open.

The MC-130E's, MC-130H's and MC-130W's (AC-130W's?) all have the beefed up rear chine that runs up the outside of the rear fuselage. They were also equipped with buffer boards, and the beefed up ramp and door.

Yeah..Whiskey was the other one that was kicked around HQ quite a bit..but got the kabashed fairly quickly by the boss in the 3rd floor office. I do know that the origional MCW unit at Hurlburt used Whiskey fairly liberally though.

Lol..Like that mattered when they came up with it's official "Combat Spear" name..everyone still called it the Combat Wombat. I have a feeling that the "Wombat" will have staying power.

The magical mystery machine..do you want CLR training aircraft..presto..C-130H...do you want an operational aircraft..presto..MC-130W..you say you want a gunship..presto change-o..AC-130W.

Well..I guess they finally put the combat in Wombat.

There's still a fair number of HC's out there..from D/M and Moody to Patrick Air Reserve, New York ANG and Alaska ANG. CA ANG are the only ones that are flying the MCP as a rescue aircraft that I know of.

Would love to hear from the Rescue guys on this.

I agree..MC-130E's didn't need an MDS change, because their MDS was already unique. The -15s were just another upgrade and isn't the defining characteristic for H-models. I'm not entirely sure why they redesignated AC-130Es to AC-130Hs.

I think that you can only wrap your hands around this by just accepting what they are designated..not what sort of motor they have (Eventually AFSOC C-130E's had -15s) or what airframe they were based on. MCPs and HCs are MCPs and HCs for fleet management purposed..if you went down the road of what airframes they were based on..ACHs and MCEs would be lumped in with C-130Es. Keep it simple

RIP Jerry...another AFSOC warrior joins his brothers and sisters.

You'll have to get it confirmed through an ACC guy..but I beleive when they upgraded the radar, they all went to the standard 130 radome..regardless of designation.

I know in AFSOC, they were all designated MC-130P's, no matter if they had the old fulton radome or not. However, as a matter of practicallity, we tried to keep the overseas bases the same..one with fulton nose..the other non-fulton. By the time I retired..that had pretty much become an impracticality. Not sure what the present status is.

Well..you had some AFSOC HC-130N/P redesignated as MC-130Ps, although the CA ANG flew some P's as rescue..figure that one out.

EC-130H..jammers and other secret squirrel stuff

EC-130J..flying Television studio and WKRP of the air..and I'm sure even more secret squirrel stuff

The new MC-130W..but I'm told that might be changed to AC-130W..not sure if that's happening or not.

Of course you have the AC-130H and AC-130U Gunpigs..errr..ships.

Then hero's of the skies, MC-130E and MC-130H Talons.

Last, but not least..the new kids on the block..HC-130J and MC-130J..essentially the same aircraft now but spiral development will change that quick.

Plus there is the odd TC-130H and NC-130H floating around out there.

There may be more..but that's what I recall

Those are LAIRCM (Large Aircraft Infra-Red Counter Measure) balls. A type of missile defense system. AFSOC aircraft started out with an early version called DIRCM

Never seen anything like that before. It looks like perhaps that's a companies model for some sort of RC-130 or EC-130 proposal that never got off the ground. Looks like some sort of J-Stars type modification with the side panels. None-the-less...90% sure it never got past the model that you see there.

It was probably removed..could have been prepped for a PDM input and they needed a plane to fly over

AC-130Js were being talked up the entire time I was on A4 staff....I understand that this is getting closer and closer to reality.

Spookychief..don't assume that any future AC-130J will have the same weapons package that is on the H's or U's. Most likely the weapon package would be a spiral development from what they've already accomplished on the Dragon Spear. You are correct that structural issues exist even today on the legacy gunships and the fuselage structure of the -130J is basically the same as when the H-models came off the line.

The -900 series of pods were developed into what is currently flying on the MC-130H and MC-130W. During development they were refferred to as "MCARS" (MC-130H Air Refueling System) pods and the T.O. refers to them as IARS (Integrated Air Refueling System). This program benefitted from the Marine efforts on the KC-130J. I don't recall what the final Mk32-900 designation is.

I believe that the Japanese use a derivative of the MCARS system and that there are other -900 series pods flying on Canadian and Swedish C-130's. I haven't heard of any efforts to install these on J-models other than what was attempted on the KC-130J.