Spectre623

Another good day at the museum. Installed the MLG doors and installed the 40MM gun barrels in their mounts. Took 4 men to lift just the barrels. Looks like a real gunship now. Opened the ramp also and lowered it to the ground. HAND PUMPED it closed..whew. I forgot how handy the aux pump is. For you none A model troops the A model don't have an aux pump like the B's on up. I remember we had 2 or 3 A's at Sewart that had Utility Prime and they had a crossover hose that would operate sorta like an aux pump. The early birds like 623 don't have it. Planning to hang engines next week if all goes well. Nice write up with pics today in the Marietta Journal about a pilot from here in Marietta that flew Ghost Rider in Nam. He came out to the Herk and the paper got a pic of him in the seat. Lot of interest from the locals about the Herk in the museum. (NOTE: THERE ARE NO COMPLETE GUNS ON THE ACFT. ONLY THE BARRELS) Bill

Sparks, our prayers are going up for your son...God bless. Bill

Graywolf88 you need to write a letter to your congressman and tell him your problem with your local VA rep. I was short by 2-3 days of 6 months in-country so I am not eligible for the VN campaign ribbon( the green and white one) as a full 6 months are required. This did not stop them from giving me the DD-215 with VN service ribbon and a letter confirming boots on the ground. Atlanta VA looked at the paperwork and put me on the Agent Orange Roster. ONE DAY ON THE GROUND QUALIFIES YOU FOR PROOF OF EXPOSURE! The VA AIN'T your friend....in a lot of cases. Bill :(

No Ken my ugly mug is not in that pic as I was taking the pic. You might check a couple of post back and see me with a big grin in front of the crew door. The museum crew covers everybody from pilots, navs, FE's and mechanics from B-52's to C-130's. The biggest group are retired Lockheed workers with 30 years or more building everything Lockheed built here in Georgia. Their background of experience is mind boggling. But the main thing they all have in common is their love of everything airplane! This is a great thing for me as I took care of GhostRider the last 7 years before I retired in 2003 and with not much prospects of putting her at the front gate at Dobbins after 911, I had no idea she would make it to a museum. These guys in the pics saved her from becoming beer cans. yeahhhhhhh! Bill :)

Tues. weather was perfect and with the great crane operator and a museum crew with about a million years of aircraft experience both wings were hung in an amazing 4 hours. A good time was had by all. A few pics attached. Bill

Well, as of today GhostRider is on museum property positioned between the wings. If weather is good tomorrow we will attach the wings.As you can see I'm a happy happy guy about this move. Attached are a few pics. Bill :)

Ghost Rider was moved off base this morning as scheduled. No problems were encountered due to good planning by the museum crew. 27 overhead wires had to be dropped to get Herk off Dobbins ARB. It is sitting outside the museum fence till in the morning and will make its final move then. Will post pics after tomorrow. Bill

Ghost Rider rolls off base tomorrow 8-10-2013, 0800 to the museum. Bill :)

Heychief, you are absolutely correct in the fact the 37th did great work during that time...and still do. As in my post about the -7 engine. No outfit is perfect, and because we all stumble and sometimes fall, we are all in on these operations together...to hack the mission for the old red,white and blue. We pickup and backup each other in the C-130 world. In my time in I've cleaned up behind other units and they have surly cleaned up some of my messes. Bill :)

Funny Railrunner you said that...while working at Lockheed from 83-85 we built a batch of H's for the Coast Guard with -7 engines. They called them H-7's. They were to upgrade later with -15's. The old Navy captain in charge didn't want sealed starters or QD's on the generators and a couple of new fangled gagets that I don't remember. Soooo, H's will fly with -7's as long as they have 4 of them on the same plane, ha ha. Bill :)

Uh, no...Ray I don't think we are talking bout the same kind of queen bee here...ha ha . Bill

pics of 54-1623 prior to moving to museum. Bill

Hey Thomas, I was at Sewart also and they did have a great engine shop. Were you there when they built the huge new engine shop then closed the base? Things have w-a-a-a-y changed since those days. Squadron engine shops are very restricted in what they can do to an engine now. Basically only light stuff compared to the old days. There is this insane "Just in time" supply game they play now...only the spare parts ,ie engines, props etc., don't get there "Just in time" and we have to cann parts like crazy to" keepem flying". I retired in 2003 but from what I hear it ain't any better today. Bill

You too funny Ray. How you been? That Queen Bee shop was a super engine shop that manages and repairs engines to a greater degree than a regular line shop. Course you knew that Ray. bill

The guard and reserves were there fer sure. My funniest recollection about the rote was when Dobbins and Maxwell were at Ramstein supporting this little skirmish. Maxwell had a bird down for an engine change, I think it was at Split. I was told by the brass to go over to the base engine shop and check out the engine that the base was going to send and make sure they knew we needed a -15 engine. When I get there and tell them what I'm there for they inform me that their shop is a Queen Bee engine shop and they don't need no stinking reservist telling them anything. At that time I was just an E-8 ART with 30 years on the Herk. I says ok it's on you guys. Well you guessed it, they sent a -7 engine to Split and the engine guys hung it and ran it up ,couldn't get 1083 TIT.....ROTRO!!!...one small problem it was an H model they hung it on. Poor guys, it was winter there also. Lot of hollering and cussing involved. Can you say do-over!! Bill

Great clip loadsmith, it does show good detail of the rails. Thanks. Bill

Thanks for the info herkchief130. Does the winch stay under the floor all the time or does it come out for odd loads? Can it be controlled at different stations or does it have a remote controller? Bill

How do you J model loadmasters with E/H time like the new system as compared to the old -4 Dual Rail system? What are some good/bad points on the J system? How do you J crew chiefs like the new system? Bill

WOW that's one of them there new fangled JAY models....now that is expensive!!! Bill :(

Yer correct about Lockheed not getting the word. When I was working there 83-85 building H's they were still putting the L shaped bracket with holes for 3 hyd lines in the nose W/W that haven't been used since the NLG had the big anvil looking down lock. Also they were still putting the bracket with the 10/32 nut plates to hold the GTC oil tank cover on inside the cargo compt.. They were still cutting the round holes in the Nose W/W door jambs when it used the big round remote accumulator gauges on the A and B model....go figure. Anyone know if they are still doing that on the J? Bill

That is the new eco friendly wood burner j model engine I have heard so much about ha ha. As far as I remember all C-130's I ever worked on had the screens in the cooling air exhaust outlets. Wonder why they thought the J would be any different. Bet the crew chief is red faced... Bill

Got it PerfManJ...thanks. Bill

Does the J-30 have a different tank lay out and capacity than the standard J, which I thought had the same tanks as the E and H? Are you saying the difference is the J don't use externals and the J-30 does? If so I can see where the -30 would get the extra mileage. Bill

How would a SMOE picker work on an I Pad when figgerin' TOLD or Long Range Cruise Data......just wondering. Ha Ha Bill

Been reading the Air Force Association 2013 USAF Almanac on the J Model performance. It says The range with 35000 lb payload is 1,841 miles and the J-30 with same payload, range is 2,417 miles. Where do they pick up 576 more miles of range with the same amount of fuel and engines but dragging the weight of 15 more feet of aluminum around? By the way who does the TOLD card on the J. He would know...right ? Bill