Spectre623

Saw the dead battery thing at Dobbins 10-15 years ago as a crewchief we were waiting for the LM to finish his form F and his calculator died on him. He had the deer in the headlights look till the FE offered him his calculator to finish up with. I thought it was funny because in the mid 70's as a 141 FE at Charleston we would be written up if we were caught with one of those new fangled gadgets and using it to figure our TOLD cards...we had to use the old tried and proven slide rule. My how times have changed. Ha Ha, still have my first illegal pocket calc. that I bought in Japan in 1975! Bill :)

No guys...this is old... from my Acft. Loadmaster Tec. Cert., Course AFF- 60730-1, C-130 304S Field Tng. Dtch. Sewart AFB Tn. Dated 15 July 1964. Ha Ha Bill

So very sorry for your loss Sonny. Bill

Ha Ha , no Tinwhistle this is the real deal, These were some of the early systems (1960's) used on the young Herks. Some worked and some didn't and some were improved and are in use today. Bill :)

Hey Col, long time since we heard from you on the Herk board. Merry Christmas and hope you are well. Bill :)

While my mind is on the old style air drop systems...Is there anyone on this board that remembers this accident at Pope AFB? It was late 1968 or early 69 that a new airdrop/rigging system with cables and pullys attached to FS 245 and running aft was being tested. It was the wing commanders aircraft and was assigned to the 777Th TAS as I remember. I saw the setup since it was parked next to my bird prior to launch. The acft. RTB shortly after T.O. with firetrucks screaming and it taxied back to the spot. After all the brass had their look I was allowed on the acft. and cables and parts of 245 were everywhere inside the acft. As far as I know that was the only test of this system. Any comments or knowledge of this accident? I don't remember if the loadmaster was hurt or not. Sam Macgown weren't you at Pope about that time also? Bill

You win the cigar Xzoomie. I understood the pilot couldn't get the correct altittude till they hung the mic on the boom. Pretty smart idea. Have seen clips of GPES but never flown on one. Bill

Ha ha, Ray you always were a man of few words...most of the time. Bill :)

Now that we have the PLADS thing figured out here is another one for the newbies...GPES, Ground Proximity Extraction System. Anybody here use it ,where and when. And the last question, where was the microphone attached? Love these old brain teasers. Bill

Anybody out there remember the PLADS system (Parachute Low Altitude Delivery System) for C-130's? Anybody fly any missions using it or was involved in testing it? Oh yea and the scuttlebutt about using it to get troops out the back end in a capsule and they used live bears for the tests. Bill

Later H-2's starting at Lockheed s/n 4992 (delivered about 1985) you got the 2 large side escape hatches, lost the HF long line ant, it went into the vert stab LE, got the dual INS and 2 main batteries along with the flush toilet. I installed and rigged the first set of large hatches on this bird as it came down final assy. Bill

Just came from the Marietta Ga. Air Museum today. AC-130A 54-1623 c/n 3010 has been turned over to them by the AF museum and they are in the process of moving it out the back gate at Dobbins to their site. They are going to paint it in the colors along with the nose art "Ghost Rider" that it wore in VietNam as it has the 3 bladed props on it. Good to see it being given a home where it can be properly displayed and maintained. Will give updates as they occur. Will send Casey a pic or two to post as I gettem'. Bill:)

Man how things change...when I was at Pope in 68-69 we had 3 squadrons with about 16 E models each and now just 10 older H's total...and they don't even own them, wow! I stopped in there about 3 years ago and it looked like a ghost town on the flight line side. Bill

Hey Ondo Im, let us know here on the site how your flight with this load turned out. Good luck. Bill

So Metalbasher, I take it these MERSs? were hung on the IFR hard points? For the few years I was on fighters we hung the bombs on TERs (triple ejector racks) and MERs (multiple ejector racks) on the hard points. A great pic I might add. I figured someone out there in Herky Land had some. Thanks for posting them. Bill

Talonlm you are right and you know what they say, "If you don't remember your history you are doomed to repeat it". We have the old heads retired and the newbies want to try it their way so it will make them look good...and they don't read their history. Not good for our gunship guys. Bill :(

Big article in this months Air Force Asso. mag about the AC-130W Stinger gunship getting 4 small diameter bombs under each wing(SDB) for a limited standoff precision strike capability. Also says they are testing Hellfire missles on the bird. Now THAT will be a kickbuttski gunship. The mag and article can also be accessed online. Waiting for pics. Bill

Sorry Dave but the acft 83-0493 in the clip is one of 4 LC-130 H's I helped build for the NY Air Guard when I worked at Lockheed. It had the JATO racks on the air deflector doors. I remember it well as Lockheed had deleted the bottle attch. from all other H2's prior to NY getting their new H's delivered in 1984-85. I remember the first one as it rolled down final assy when it came to functional test position(Where I worked) there was a wire bundle as big around as your arm hanging free in the MLG wheel well. We were wondering where it connected and no one knew as it had been 20 years since they had built a ski bird. They figured it out when they moved it to the mod hanger to finish it up. The one quick shot in the video clip of acft 1095 was as you said an ex NSF acft. That was a great 3 years I had helping build those Herks then I moved down the road to Dobbins AFB when they offered me an ART job. A good move I might add. Bill

Thanks guys. I should have said due north of the SLEP hanger, as I was traveling east. Never was good with a compass, ha ha. Bill

Bob or anyone, do you know what the 2 C-130 tail numbers are that are stored behind the SLEP hangers at Lockheed? I see them as I drive down So. Cobb but can't see any numbers. One has the wings and vert fin removed and the other looks complete. They are due east of the big B-1 building or 33d 55' 47.13''N x 84d 31' 27.81" W. Bill

Take a bow Casey, you have done a great service to all things Herk!! Thanks for your hard work...and to all the folks on this board. Bill

Right you are GVS we had many E-4's with over 4 years service in the 60's. After they changed the E-4 from A1C to Sgt the section chief could put you on Red X orders if he knew you had the experience and they needed more people to sign off Red X's. The change over to Sgt had some fuzzy meaning that since you were an NCO now you could accept more responsibilities. I.E., Red X qualified. Still had to be a Staff to start 7 level training which was good thru Master at which time you started 9 level upgrade training for E8 & E9. The change from the E to F shredout took nothing more than a new 1098 being cut by training after a little local training or a C-130 FTD school. Bill

Tinwhistle please don't call that beautiful aerospace vehicle known a C-130 a flying "Dump Truck" that is so cold....oh wait, that's what I've called her for 30 years ha ha .... Love it. bill

Was at the Marietta Air museum today and they told me they were getting GhostRider aka AC-130A 54-1623 which has been stored at Dobbins since 1995. That will just about fill up their display space. They plan to push the 141 back and put the gunship as the center display. They have about 10 aircraft on display now. Bill

As an astute politician once said not to long ago "our thoughts on that is still evolving"...the old Herk is too, 3 blades then 4, then 6 and now 8. Yep Larry I spent 3 years on the A's and you sure spoke the truth on that. Then again everything is relative, right? ha ha . Bill