Spectre623

Hey Wayne, welcome to the site. We propably crossed paths a few times between Sewart and CRB. Bill

Having had a good deal to do with converting an E model into a FUT for the schoolhouse at Dobbins I would say the walk around bottles were left on the acft to simulate a complete flight deck for student preflights. We even made up a set of dummy AFTO 781 forms so the student could review them prior to his preflight. Bill

Oh yesss....the old HTTB..first time I saw it was just after Lockheed acquired it. It was sitting outside next to the B-1 building at Lockheed in Ga. Plain old L-100-20. Stunk like it had been hauling camels. Last time I saw it it was a pile of twisted wreckage next to the clinic at Dobbins ARB in Feb. 1993. Saw it fly many times in between and do many things even a J can't do. It was an amazing Herk. Won't waste your time trying to explain it to you...just imagine a cross between the C-130C and Credible Sport C-130's and that was it....then some. Bill

When I worked at the Lockwasher, 1983-85, as the C-130's were being built they would have a " build code" of 2 digits and 1 letter such as "18E", about 6 inches high, stenciled on each side of the nose. This is the so called block number I guess. I never heard it called that on the assembly line when I worked there. The Herks build code, 8 at a time on the final assy line, would skip around because we were building Herks for the whole world. Very seldom would more than 2-3 come down the line together with the same build code. After I quit Lockheed they started building strings of acft with the same build codes such as in 1986, 13 each "69E" versions for Taiwan and collective runs of 8 to 16 with the same code for the Guard and Reserves. We at Dobbins had a split buy of 6 each "18E" and 2 "60E" versions. Of course since then they have been modded to who knows what. Each build code told you what blueprints to call for at the beginning of your shift. The prints told you what went on that acft and how to install or wire the part or system or if it got mud flaps and radio and heater ha ha. The prints were to be turned in at the end of your shift. Funny thing was every 7 days all the Herks were moved forward one position on the swing shift. Next day some of the old heads who rat holed their prints would start working on the acft (not noticing it had moved) and use the prints from the acft that had moved out of their position. I saw this a few times as part of my job as an OJT, which was to try to solve problems before we called in a "Production Engineer". I told several of those guys that Lockheed still builds a great aircraft in spite of them. ha ha. Bill

A1C Joe Tidwell a C-130 crew chief at Sewart AFB Tn. in the mid 60's ,lost his long battle with cancer this past Wed. Joe worked for NASA at Coco Beach Fla. I went on Rote to Clark AB with Joe in 1965 and knew him well. A fine man...God rest his soul. Bill

After the BLC tests it was demodded back to basic B model with wings and rudder from a damaged acft. It picked up the civ reg N929NA and later to N707NA after it went to NASA. NASA put an extended radom on it and several other mods. Bill

Nice pic of the only "C" model Bob. The BLC engines were YT-56A-6 turbojets without the gear boxes and props. It was the 7th B model built. The flaps dropped down 90 degrees from the wing as did the ailerons. It also used a 22 foot dia. drag chute to get the landing speed down to 60 MPH at max weight. It was assigned to the 4950th Test Group. Later this aircraft was moded and became the NASA Earth Survey 2, acft.

Wife and I went to the Smyrna, Ga. "Veterns Memorial" at the city center complex. They had a Blackhawk flyby in the missing man formation and speakers from WW2 all the way to a couple of Marines who just returned (one Wounded). It was a great showing from Dobbins ARB With their "Honor Guard", complete with a 21 gun salute. It was a good day to be alive, and to be able to honor our "war dead" properly. Hey Muff did you make it to the memorial there? Looked for you. Bill

Was on Herks 30 years and also installed and rigged them at Lockheed so... my thoughts on the FE lifting the crew door up about waist high and shaking it, is as about as good a check as walking by the tire and kicking it to check the air pressure. But hey... I'm retired now so , it may have changed...ha ha. NOTE:P.S. I just relooked at the pic a little closer and I see the retract pin on the telescoping rod is not retracted(if jettisoned) but bent, and the lower hinges are still on the acft and the door handle is in the locked position. It tells me the door wasn't jettisoned but looks like the "J" hooks were possibly out of adjustment. Would like to have seen how it was patched up as a prior post surmised and reinstalled. Vedy Inte-resting...as a certain inspector would say....

Well said RZ. Guard and Reserve roots go real deep. The gov gets a lotta bang for the buck with this team... more, if they would just quit playing chess with the bases and planes. Bill

No Donwon it was not Baca, aka Chief. Like Bob said, it was Gary Back . Word was, he and Martinez, an eng. troop were chaining their tool boxes down at 245 when the fwd. cargo door blew. Back went out and Martinez, only part way out hung onto the chain and was pulled back in. I heard "The rest of the story", as to why it blew open, in 1990 from the Lockheed engineer who investigated the failure. Bill

Herk 336, have you read "Herk: Hero of the skies" by Joe Dabney? Mucho info on the Herk and its development. Bill

That's funny RZ, I went to school on B-47's at Amarillo and then straight to A models at Sewart. Don't know if it is the A model in the first post but the 3 bladed props off one of the A models at Sheppard ended up on our gunship at Dobbins. Looks real nice with those 3 bladers. Hey MIKE-1 do you remember the tail#? Bill

You are SO right on the P.I. losing BIG BUCKS on our leaving. A few rinkey dink sorry sorry stores on Clark and Cubie Point will never make up what was lost! What do they say about hind sight? Bill

Don't know if it's 100% true but was stationed at Dobbins with a couple of guys who were there when she blew and all the locks and stocks and barrels were full of ash. Also I believe the P.I congress voted to not renew the lease since our 99 year lease was up. True or false? Bill

It seems that all the wars we have fought in my lifetime, that is since WW2, were fought for the good of a people who were being forced into a way of life that was against all America stood for. They were started for a good reason but finished wrong, starting with Korea. Seems when the folks back home are not included in at least some of the hardships of a country at war they seem to soon forget we who are in the war. As a result they are soon out protesting against the war no matter the good reason it was started. I enlisted in 1962 and recieved my draft notice while in AF basic training. This is the greatest country in the world because we have had men go into war not because they wanted to or thought it was right, but because in the past we were taught from childhood and including in school, that it was our responsibility. We were taught as American citizens to go into the military and do our part for our country whether we were at peace or at war. Any help from schools nowdays to that respect, has gone in the opposite direction. Our country is on the downhill slide due to our broken moral compass and system of "lazie fare", but it is still MY country right or wrong. And yes, I would go again if called and serve proudly. I could never look in the mirror again if asked to serve my country and not do it. Bill

NATOPS1, the AF uses the static line winches connected to a restraint strap cutter on CDS bundles as well as a static line retiever. During rigging the switch is bumped many times to take the slack out of the cable. The tension has to be just right when the drop is made as the winch only runs a few seconds when the copilot hits the green light . We have a FUT at Dobbins and the winches on it get a huge work out. When the winches were designed, they had only one function and that as we all know was to pull the static lines back inside the aircraft. An 80 amp limiter was good enough then...but with the additional requirement as a CDS strap cutter, the whole system is strained. There were 3 different brand of winches when I retired in 2003 and who is to say they were all built within the same tolerences as the original, supposed to but...... Also wear and tolerence creep of the electrical and mechanical components of the winch and wiring could total up to more than an 80 amp draw. 1038CC have ops notify you the next time they rig a CDS and eyeball the whole procedure. Also note how many turns of 80 lb. tape used to secure the static line cable to the winch cable. Might be an real eye opener to you. On a more humorous note, I was on a troopdrop at 29 Palms years ago and was standing under the left winch as the bags were being pulled and they caught on the ADS arm in the rear and it pulled the winch off of FS 245 before the load saw what was happening and let go of the switch.It never did blow the limiter. Bill

It appears and sounds like an AH-64 Apache firing a missle and it's 30mm chain gun. One person is calling range at 2500 meters which would be well with in range of the M-230 gun. Bill

Was in Rescue back in the 70's. The ODS was used to deliver rescue bundles out the backend. The pilot had an intervolemeter on his lt. side panel and could set up the number of bundles to be dropped. The ODS was a big head knocker. The drive motor shear pins were a weak point. We used the ODS to lift and drag the 1800 gal fuse tanks out the back before each phase insp. Other than that it was just in the way most of the time. Bill

Yes Bob it was. I had been TDY with him back to San Antonio once or twice and he really made you feel welcome. The 700th has a memorial near their ops building to him. A fine man. Bill

You are correct Hedjhopper, and we got back home in Febuary, the day after the HTTB crashed at Dobbins...a very sad day as one of our reserve FE's was on board. Bill

Can't ever remember hearing a Herk brake squeal, lots of clanking and roaring though. I have seen the inner bearing left out during a tire change. Not a pretty picture. Were the inner bearings taken out and inspected. With the inner bearing grease seal in place it is hard to see if all the rollers are in the bearing. Bad inner bearing would side load the brake and axle big time. Sounds serious whatever you have...If it's squealing...it ain't happy!!

Thanks Casey, for posting the pics of 129's wing burning and of Leo Sullivan I sent you. He and 129 were amazing. For you Herk freaks who haven't read it, "Herk, Hero of the Skies" is a "must read". The book was written by Joseph E. Dabney, Lockheed's Public Affairs guy for about 30 years. It has a lot of insight to the good and bad times of the Herk. Made a trip to Willow Run, Mich. in July 1985 with Joe to the Yankee Air Force Hanger for a celebration of the 30th anniversity of the Herk. At that time we had the newest 130 ,(84-0205) and Duke field sent one of their older ones. 129 was not able to come for some reason. Needless to say it was a huge party!!! A retired 2 star met us on the plane and gave us several 6 packs and 3 sets of keys to new Linclon Towncars. I can't stand Wild Turkey to this day. Some welcome!! Bill

C-130A's originally had no external fuel tanks. Look at any early pictures. TCTO 1C-130A-111 had provisions for two 500 gallon fuel tanks in the cargo cmpt. All A's were not modded as the AF realized they took up to much space..duh? Later TCTO 1C-130A-778 is when the A got the two 450 gallon non-jettisonable pylon tanks. This info is from a Lockheed pub printed in 1991. Bill

Casey, I have a couple of pics of 129 burning and after the fire was put out that I will e mail you. Post them if you want. Also have a pic of Leo Sullivan 3 days before the fire ,that he autographed after I had lunch with him and gave him a tour of 54-1623 at Dobbins not to long before he passed away. He was in his 80s and he talked about flying the first Herk and the fire as though it was yesterday. What a guy. Bill