Spectre623

Yep, 791 is the load trainer at the aerial port school at Dobbins. Had another FUT trainer there for loadmaster training, tail number 61-2369. They both flew in and stayed to long so we cut the wings and stabs off and turned them into trainers. 369 was moved to Pope Field when we got out of the FTU business. Bill

The name of the film is "The Way It Is ", The Tactical Airlift Story. Made in 1972 as a USAF/DOD Info film. Narrated by John Wayne. Googled it but could not find anything on it except it is on J.W's credits. Saw it in FE school at Sheppard back when I was a mere child. Ha Ha. Bill

Just googled requirements to get into the USAF band. Don you are half right. They go thru normal basic training then sew on E-6. And live happily ever after riding around on C-130's. Bill :)

New commercial with a Herk in it on TV for an income tax company. Looks to be an A model dropping billions of dollars as CDS bundles. Anybody know the tail number? Cute. Bill

I know why Sam never saw me flying with my bird (61-0956 QF) cause I was usually sitting on the bunk up front, but like all crew chiefs I helped the loadie on the ground . Bill

Congrats BRlang on getting your paperwork. The VA would not let me get on the Agent Orange register till I had the DD215 showing time in country. They also sent me a letter with the 215 and set of VN ribbons. I brought the 215 and letter to the Atlanta VA, they looked at them both and put me on the AO roster. Had to answer questions about where when and what outfit I was in in VN. Also gave a blood sample. I would think you would have to be on the register before filing an AO claim. Bill

HOC... Herk Operators Conference ? Maybe.

Not sure it's an A model Don as there appears to be only one drain mast on #3 engine , A's had 2. Also looks like a LOX filler port on the right w/w pod. Been a long time but I think the rescue birds had a LOX system for the back enders. Bill

Ha Ha ...I presented a plaque with a piece of the cap on it to the pilot at a flying safety meeting after we got back home. It said "Here is a little TIP from maint...watch those wing tips" Bill :)

Looks like the wing tip cap is the only damage. If it was further in, like into #4 main tank there would be a lot fuel all around the tip...I would think. You can knock or shear the tip (Cap) and not get into the tank...if you are lucky as we were in Tief, Saudie Arabia on our last D.S. rote. Took the tip shards off, speed taped it and flew back to King Fhaud apt. A good day. Bill:)

Looks like no prop brake I guess.

I went to tech school on B-47's at Amarillo AFB Tx. in 1963 and was very interested in the article. A little research on the net shows 394 B-47's built at Lockheed as well as 28 modified for "Weather Recon and Atmospheric Sampling". Those were probably the ones with the stripe on the vertical fin as noted above. Also a bit of interest that is well known at Dobbins ARB ( which shares the runway with Lockheed) is about the B-47 that crashed into the lake at the on-base Fam Camp. They still won't let you fish in the lake because of the contamination. The lake is within a stones throw of where The C-130 HTTB crashed in 1993. Bill

Billy if you can see any sign in the picture saying it is somewhere in VN, that may be the clincher. A lot depends on the person handling your case. I hope you can find some paperwork putting you in county such as travel vouchers. Blanket orders don't work cause it don't prove you actually went TDY. Send the form in like I told about in this very first post. They found in my records an APR from my flight chief that says I had completed so many days TDY in country for that reporting period. My letter from them said THAT, proved boots on the ground. Good luck. Bill

Great read Casey. Bill

Good info Bob. I corrected the title. So we bought 20 C-27's for $486 million from the IAF, that's $2.43 million each and the Afghans sold 16 for $32,000 which is $2000 apiece for a loss of OUR money of $2.42 million each! I'll bet the Italians are still laughing at us. Bill

That's right folks ,16 of the 20 C-27A's that were bought for $486 million dollars by the U.S. for the Afghan Air Force, were sold for scrap for $32,000 or 6 cents per pound. That is $2000 per airplane!!!! Afghan air force said they did not meet operational requirements so they sold them for scrap to an Afghan construction company, says an article in this months Air Force magazine. Well dang, I would like to have had one for a weather vane in my front yard at 6 cents a pound. The only reason they didn't sell all 20 is because 4 are at Ramstein. The U.S. Air Force secretary is hopping mad and wants to know "WHO DUNNIT". Didn't we send them some C-130's too. Wonder what they will be sold for... 10 cents a pound? Who is running this madhouse anyway? Bill :(

Another "young Herk" was GhostRider which retired with only 13,989 hours in 38 years of flying, is way under utilized... but this is comparing apples to oranges since this is a gunship. I think it had a lot of good hours left to shoot up a bunch of bad guys. Bill

Rode that puppy 30 plus years...none better...never will be. Bill

Fine article...I love those "Rest of the story" articles. Bill

Lockheed called the H-2 the Super Hercules way back when we got them new from the factory in Nov 1982. My point was the writer danced all around the length of the -30 and LM-100J but stated the length of the plugs in the L-100-20. For Herk nuts most probably know the difference but for the vast majority of people reading the article the greater length of the fuselage on the -30 in inches or feet was not stated but that it carried 1/3 more payload. Is that in pounds or cubic feet? It don't say. Remember Lockheed stretched the C-141 to gain more cubic feet of space because we would cube out before we grossed the airplane out on most flights. Bill

Half way nice article about the Super Herks but nowhere did the article expound on the L-100-30 nor the C-130J-30 which IS the Super Herk. They spoke of the old L-100 and the L-100-20 "short stretch" but not the -30 which has the 100 inch plug fwd of the wing and the 80 inch plug aft of the wing. Except for the fancy J stuff they spoke of, half of what the "Super Herk" is all about was left out of the article. Just my thoughts. Bill

The 118th out of Nashville flew a roman nose A model into Dobbins when they picked up their first H model from Lockheed. Don't remember the number of the old girl though. Bill

Glad you didn't give up Graywolf88, you earned it!. Bill :)

You are right RavenFE about the HF ant. Must have had Ghost Rider on my brain as its pitot tubes are on the wings. Bill:)

And they vote too. Bill