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Casey, Looks very nice. Are you looking for interesting markings? If you are interested, here are a few points that I noticed when looking at photos of the YC-130A. No beaver tail and four windows before the wings. The T-56-A-9 engines of the C-130A models were set further back into the wing, so the rear of the engine nacelles extended up to the forward edge of the flaps for the inner engines and into the flaps for the outer nacelles, which was why the red prop warning stripe was closer to the front of the landing gear housing. The fuselage star should be larger. Details of the rear of the engine nacelles. Also, how about the windows on the upper fuselage? View from above. Here is a ground level view of the windows. Sorry if the photos aren't the best, nor the clearest. Best wishes, Grant

Thanks for the info, Bob. If anyone could pass this message along with my best wishes, I would be grateful. Best wishes, Grant

Dave, If you visit here, would you mind if I revise your IPMS article on correcting the Airfix kit? What started out as simply scanning the article to share with like minded people, has turned into retyping the text portion to make it easier to scan and read. Now I've made the font larger and now think that with the wonders of Pages, can put the illustrations next to your explanations for easier understanding. I'm in the process of updating it now, but if you want, I can try to email the updated version to you for your inspection. Or, I can post it here and you can inspect it at your leisure. I know that the old Airfix C-130K has been irrevocably altered into the AC-130H, but some people still have or find the old Airfix kit. Your legacy lives on. Best wishes, Grant

4 AWADS C-130Es were sent to U-Tapao RTAFB from the 317th TAW at Pope in 73. Crews from Pope, and then Little Rock, both rotated crews to fly missions in Thailand and Cambodia until 1974. PB tail code painted out and replaced with a playboy bunny when crews from Little Rock replaced the original Pope crews. Sns were 70-1270, 1271, 1272, and 1274. Best wishes, Grant

Links to a photos of KC-130T, Fat Albert. The first two are from airliner,.net. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/9/2/6/1097629.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Marines/Lockheed-KC-130T-Hercules/1097629/L/%26tbl%3D%26photo_nr%3D12%26sok%3D%26sort%3D%26prev_id%3D1097630%26next_id%3D1097628&usg=__ikiwaMEnBYRTkx3FJ8hQq_YoceA=&h=695&w=1024&sz=211&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=wuP3ZYizHbyhmM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkc-130t%2Bfat%2Balbert%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 Notice dorsal radar dome, the two towel bar antennas, (LORAN?) and the clear round bubble dome with observer looking out of it. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/2/6/0/1484062.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Marines/Lockheed-KC-130T-Hercules/1484062/L/&usg=__gAVeDWJhB897mfxy6o4IpChbVcI=&h=695&w=1040&sz=314&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=fQ86SpKE7dU5BM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkc-130t%2Bfat%2Balbert%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 Right underside showing antennas and the extended landing gear housing with the intake for the air conditioning unit as well as the intake below the cockpit. No good pictures of the left landing gear housing on the Fat Albert, but here is a link to a Saudi AF C-130H. This is from airplane pictures. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2008-3/11519.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image11519.html&usg=__XxKAI_fGtQpR8l2A8akHU2wREaA=&h=702&w=1024&sz=221&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=y9Rl_fCHySSWiM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DC-130H%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1 Notice that the red prop line touches the front of the landing gear housing. In the C-130E/K, it is well before the front of the housing. Also note the slight bulge before the landing gear door, and the intake above the door. I hope that I am not breaking any copyright rules by posting links to these sites. Best wishes, Grant

Anatharyll, The KC-130t is a Super H. I believe that it now called an H-2. It would have both landing gear housings extended forward. the left side would have the bulge for the APU and the right side would have the intake for the air conditioning unit. The is another intake below the right cockpit windows. The KC-130T had a radar dome on top of the fuselage similar in purpose to the old SKE, so I've been told. It is lower and faired in. The longer beaver tail was shortened back to its original shape when the CPi was made smaller and removed from the tail. All of the above would have to be added to the Airfix C-130H. The current Airfix kit is the Italeri kit and you may want to lengthen the engines. From the wing leading edge forward, Italeri used the C-130A engine length, but under the wings, it is the same as a C-130E. If you have the older Airfix kit, permanently modified to an AC-130H, I can send you a scan of the old IPMS article by Dave Davenport on correcting many of the small errors on the pre-AC-130H Airfix kit. Look here for an overview of what is or was available for the C-130 in 1/72nd scale. http://www.72scale.com/aircraft/Lockheed/C-130.htm Ron's resins had a conversion to make the super H, but you may have difficulty finding it. If you get the newer Italeri C-130J kit, it has the extended pod for the left side, with APU bulge, but the right landing gear housing is unchanged and does not provide either intakes for the right side. You also have the different engines and 8-blade props. You would have to swap them out with a C-130E kit. Look here at ARC for a discussion on the Fat Albert in 1/72. http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=155132&start=0&p=1409578entry1409578 Best wishes, Grant

Tgeorge, Yes, I think that I remember your name. Sorry, but I remember Bruce Kibbens' name better, but I remember what you look like. I hope that you are fine and well. I was in the first class with the two Cindies, Lou Ames, Pete Osborne (the flower child) and Kevin Cross. Kevin got his pilot's wings while at Chanute and later became an officer. Lou and I served together at Keesler and next at Hanscom. He cross trained or got out there. Pete left after Keesler. The two Cindies got married, and while Cindy Needham stayed in for a while, the other Cindy got out quickly. As you can guess, my hobby got me into trouble. I try to keep my nose clean. I don't take pictures of aircraft now, but stioll build models. Or rather buy kits and start them. Most of my slides are in Hawaii, otherwise, I would post more photos of C-130s. I now teach English to kids in Tokyo. I've built a couple of kits with my students. I've been married to a fine Japanese lady since 1987. I've been lucky that way. I'm sorry, but in spite of your best efforts, I was never swift nor fully comfortable with electronics. I asked TSgt Galloway to show me how to tune the APN-42 many, many times, until I wore him out and he finally said that that was too much already. What he didn't know was that I worried that I didn't intuitively know the system or would forget it, so I practiced until I felt more confident. Skip Van Pelt was the night supervisor and he had to be entertained by one or more of the troops playing chess or Pinoccle with him. I would volunteer to go out with the Reserve troops, because I loved airplanes, and ended up learning a bit more from them. It kind of came out OK because one night, QC came to inspect us and asked us to pull out an APN-42 set and calibrate it. We took out the T.O. with its uncertain instructions and proceeded to calibrate it. It went fine until we got to the part where you set up the amplitude signal. Pete, who knew electronics better than I ever will, said that I should set the signal differently. Well, I had been doing it that way with Frank, who knew more than either of us. So here we are having a disagreement in front of QC. The QC guy must have taken pity on us as he looked at the sigmal and said that it was below specs and that the radar unit failed check out. So we put it away and that ended it. He didn't fail us, buit he later had some words with O'Leary, who had some words with us. But I guess he knew that I was trying hard, as he didn't reprimand us. After the QC guy had left, I took the unit out and calibrated it again. Proves the saying about too many cooks... When I get more memory for my computer, I'll scan more articles about weather related aircraft. Need to get a slide converter to scan what few slides I have here in Japan. Best wishes, Grant

I've seen pictures of a C-97 taken in Congo and it was one of those that was based in Germany. It was taken in the early 60s, when the CIA supported the local govt. They flew B-26Ks in the green and white scheme. They had a large black radome between the main wheels so it is kind of hard to see. I don't think that they flew any cargo. If you read about Brave Bull, a C-97 that went to SEA early in the war, you might know more. Best wishes, Grant

On the HC-130N with arctic Markings, the white square below the cockpit was probably the Bicentennial Marking and would date the photo from 1976 or so. The small black plate on the tail of the second C-130 would indicate that it was flying for Thaiam/Birdair. One of five C-130Es from Pope that flew AWADS missions in SEA until 1975. Best wishes, Grant

Go to the AWRA (Aerial Weather Reconnaissance Association) home page and see if anyone there will help you. There already is an article on the WC-130 titled Whiskey Charlie. Best wishes, Grant

ARC (Aircraft Research Center, a modeler's site ) discussion forum has some pictures of AC-130Hs. You might find some of 575 and 574. You could also search AC-130E/H on that forum. A number of threads had interesting information and pictures. This is a thread for C-130 pictures. http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=135422&st=260&start=260 Best wishes, Grant

It might have been 1626, the prototype or 490 which I believe was the Surprise Package prototype and would have been tested at WPAFB. Best wishes, Grant

You're right, it's easier to get quickly. Best wishes, Grant

The designations are a reflection of the history of Naval Aviation and date back to 1922. V means "Heavier Than Air," as opposed to "Lighter Than Air" airships and blimps. M means Marines as opposed to Navy. G meant Search-Rescue, now means Tanker. (from 1958) R means Support Transport. Followed by the squadron number. The letter designations for squadrons and aircraft missions are the same, but there are a few differences between those and the aircraft suffixes. In P-3, the P means Patrol, but F2H-4P, the P means Photo-Reconnaisance. Some trivia for USN C-130s. The pre-1962 designation for the KC-130F was GV-1, and the C-130F was GV-1U, but the USCG SC-130B was R8V-1G and the LC-130F was the UV-1L, later C-130BL, then LC-130F, post 1962. G means Tanker V means Lockheed. dash 1 means first C-130 model used as a tanker. (KC-130F) U means Utility, a catch all designation for conversions/redesignation from other variants. (Converted from tanker versions.) and R means Support Transport. 8 means eighth transport type produced by Lockheed. V means Lockheed dash 1 means first C-130 model used as a support transport. (SC-130B/HC-130B) G means Search and Rescue. (pre 1962, the S in SC-130B meant Search and Rescue.) and U means Utility V means Lockheed dash 1 means first version of the C-130 used as a Utility aircraft. L means aircraft modified for winter/cold weather operations.) (The L in C-130BL meant C-130B winterized.) Taken from Fahey's "The Ships and Aircraft of the US Fleet, sixth edition, and John Andrade's US Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Kind of a long explanation, hope that it makes sense. Best wishes, Grant

Thank you Casey. Here\'s hoping that Sam can get his web site up and running as soon as possible. Grant

Thank you, But no mention of Sam\'s page at that site. I\'m hoping that he might read this and post new information. His threads were often quite interesting. Thank you, Grant

Did Sam\'s page move to another location? I tried to access it, but it says that as of 1 Nov. the link has been permanantly disabled. Hope for the best, Grant

SAM\'s C-130 Page had a number of posts on that subject. Sad reading. Grant

It is probably one of the later Blind Bat C-130As modified with some systems seen on AC-130As. Similar C-130As are 56-0508 and 56-0023, both noted with red YD tail codes. They were later modified to AC-130As. Not seen in the photo is the bathtub ventral antenna and the antenna under the fuselage tail. The photo can be identified as a C-130A model because; 1. It appears to have the forward fuselage cargo door. 2. The nose profile is not curved but comes to an angle where the nose radome joins the forward cockpit area. Hope that this is of some use. Best wishes, Grant

Thank you, Stevoe, The pictures should help anyone trying to do an HC-130. I will pass this information to Hajo over at the ARC modeling forum. Best wishes, Grant

Thank you for the clear up. If any are modelers reading this, there were three kits of the C-123 in 1\\72 scale. The very old and hard to find AirModel vacuform kit that was rather basic, the injection molded Mach 2 kit from France that people complain about, and a resin kit from Magma models that was rather expensive. There is also a series of 1/144 scale kits from A Models from the Ukraine or Russia that would need work to fit together and detail up. Probably the best option is to slap the Mach 2 kit together and sand it smooth and not worry about the details. Also,would the SEA Combat Talons have their numbers painted on the tail during the Son Tay raid era? The decal sheet lists the tail number of one of the aircraft and shows it on the tail. Best wishes, Grant

Thank you TalonOneTF, Some interesting information. Why was the First Flight WC-123-Ks prefixed with a W? I don\'t think that they had anything to do with weather reconnaisance. I think I\'ve seen early pictures of them as B models. That\'s the one with the dick antenna (sorry no disrespect intended) above the cockpit and the different camoflage, I think. If anyone built a model of an early Combat Talon, what paint did you end up using? Best wishes, Grant

Thank you very much. Grant

This is for any engine shop folks, I\'m sure that there was no difference between the dash seven and dash fifteen engines. Looking for a confirmation on that. Thank you, Grant

Thanks for your comments, I don\'t think that anyome can help me with the Federal Standard number for the paints. Nowadays, modelers like to quote FS numbers or FS equivalents for paints of the actual aircraft in order to find a suitable match from the modeling paints available. He will use them to print a painting guide, sort of like what you might see in T.O. 1-1-4. Can anyone comment about the engine lengths? I\'m sure that there was no difference between the -7s and -15s, but would like some more reputable authority for him see. There was an post in Aircraft Resource Center in the Jet section about the Combat Talon decals.. Hoping for the best, Grant.