CBowman

Has been a long time since I have logged on too Gary - I sent an email to ask about this aircraft back in Feb when I heard it was going to be moved - this is the response I got from the museum. Ms. Bowman, Thank you for your question. Credible Sport is a fascinating story but several years ago, as we evaluated how to use our limited resources, we decided the Credible Sport aircraft, C-130H 74-1686, was too much for us. The aircraft was modified to test a daring concept-land a C-130 inside a soccer stadium and then take off again while loaded with passengers. But as far as the Credible Sport program goes, 1686 did little, really. A good reference for Credible Sport is Jerry L. Thigpen's book The Praetorian Starship: The Untold Story of the Combat Talon. It's available online from Air University at http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/au/thigpen.pdf Aircraft 74-1686 is specifically mentioned in chapters 9 and 10, on pages 242-264. Three C-130H aircraft were modified for Credible Sport: 74-1683, 74-1686, and 74-2065. 2065 was only partially modified and was used as a test bed while the other two were being modified. After Credible Sport was cancelled, 2065 was demodified and returned to operational use. 1683 and 1686 were the two primary test aircraft. 1683 was delivered on 17 October 1980 fully configured to Credible Sport specifications. It was destroyed in a dramatic crash landing less than two weeks later on the 29th (there's video on YouTube). According to Thigpen, at the time of the crash, 1686 was still undergoing modifications (p. 245) and "No additional flights were conducted utilizing the rocket system after the 29 October 1980 accident." (Note, p. 246.) In other words, 1686 never used the rocket system in flight. And even if it had used the rockets on a test flight, it was still a dead-end program. Two major events that happened in quick succession meant the end of Credible Sport: On 31 October Iran announced a plan to release the hostages and on 4 November Ronald Reagan was elected president. The Credible Sport program was cancelled shortly thereafter. With rockets removed, 1686 was used as the test bed for Combat Talon II; Thigpen says it never flew again as an airlifter. 1686 was a stripped out hulk inside and out when it was towed to the museum around 1988. It would have been hugely expensive in both money and manpower to restore 1686 to its Credible Sport configuration. While some places have expressed an interest in the aircraft, none have followed through after evaluating what it would cost to move and restore. They too have focused on preserving aircraft with more significant histories. At this point I think it's unlikely it will go to any museum. In the case of 74-1686, the essential question we wrestled with was this: "Why preserve a test C-130 when an actual combat veteran C-130 can be preserved?" We've focused our limited resources on preserving two combat veteran C-130s: AC-130A 55-0014, a veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, and C-130E 63-7868, a veteran of a rescue mission in the former Belgian Congo in November 1964 and combat support throughout Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War all the way to our post-9/11 wars. As I see it, Credible Sport is a fascinating sidebar to the bigger C-130 story that can be told effectively with a scale model, video, and photos. I appreciate your concern about the aircraft. I hope this gives some helpful perspective. V/r Mike Mike Rowland Curator Museum of Aviation (478) 926-7311 DSN 468-7311

Got this info from Facebook C-130 50th Anniversary at Dyess AFB Yes! On April 28 we will be having a gala at the Abilene Civic Center. If you would like an invitation please e-mail us your contact information (e-mail address) at [email protected]

When I retired, I got a call at the house to schedule a urine test in Dallas. Not wanting to make the drive from Abilene for a test that could be performed at Dyess, I asked what they were needing to test for. The reply - "To determine the amount of hearing lost." To date, nothing has come of it. I've lost in the high freq range, but according to the VA, am in the "normal" range. Best of luck to all.

You've been busy - looks nice - still checking things out. Thanks for the bumper stickers!

Won't be able to make it that far, but hope to make this one

Nice article - but do you suppose they mean Goodfellow AFB, TX? I have not heard of Longfellow....

opted to pull my post - was not really related to the thread - my error

Thanks Casey!

I was on Rote to Mildenhall when Pam's plane went down in Turkey - we were told it was lightning strike. We also heard the rumors of a possible surface to air...but the official line was lightning strike. The other aircraft as I recall was lord mount failure.

Of all emergencies encountered by flight crews, few are likely to attract the full attention of everyone present more quickly than a flight station fire. Certainly in no other flying situation is there greater need for timely and appropriate crew response - and a generous portion of plain, old-fashioned good luck. Most of us are familiar with Murphy’s Law, that wry commentary on the apparent perversity of things in general and products of high technology in particular. The principal tenet of this facetious effort to describe the methodology of misfortune is that if anything can go wrong, it will. Two “corollaries†which may be said to derive from this “law†are that every solution breeds a new problem,, and that if there is a possibility of several things going wrong in a given situation, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Murphy’s Law and its corollaries seem to have had special applicability in connection with the unfortunate circumstances surrounding a recent Hercules aircraft mishap. Let us take a close look at just what happened. in this case, and at the seemingly innocent action that paved the way to what could have been a full-blown disaster. It was a bright winter day. Checklists were being accomplished as the aircraft moved out of the parking area toward the runway for an early morning functional check flight following an extended maintenance layup. All seemed to be in order. Suddenly, smoke was seen inside the flight station near the copilot’s side windows. Flames appeared, and then a heavy, blowtorch-like fire shot toward the copilot’s instrument panel from the vicinity of the copilot’s side circuit breaker panel. The flames increased in intensity as the aircraft was stopped and crew members made an emergency evacuation. Fire and crash equipment operators on the scene were able to save the airplane, but the flight station area sustained heavy damage (Figure 1). Post-mishap investigation and analysis revealed that there had been an extensive rehabilitation effort in the airplane during the maintenance layup. The refurbishing work included a thorough repaint of the flight deck. To facilitate the repainting process, many cockpit furnishings and hardware items were either removed from the airplane entirely or placed far enough out of the way to protect them from beingunintentionallypainted. Among those items moved “out of the way†was an externally braided flexible tube in the oxygen supply system (Figure 2) that is used to recharge the copilot’s MA-l portable oxygen unit. There is a small opening, about 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches in size, on the forward side of the copilot’s essential DC bus on certain aircraft. With a little ingenuity, it is possible to fit the flexible oxygen filler tube through this opening. And this was the solution to the cockpit painter’s dilemma of where to place the tube to avoid inadvertent painting. Figure 3 shows the flexible filler tube pushed through the opening at the top of the forward end of the DC power distribution area. Notice that the filler nozzle is hanging down like a pendulum near the bus bar, and that the filler tube is resting on top of a rigid, oxygenfilled supply line (Figure 4). So far, there is nothing obviously amiss in the arrangement. And in fact, as long as the airplane remained stationary in the maintenance shop and without electrical power, there was no trouble. Unfortunately, when the painting work was finished and it came time to return the aircraft to service, no one remembered to pull the flexible tube back out of the distribution panel and return it to its retaining clip. This was a serious oversight, but there was still ample opportunity to save the situation. Although looking to see that the flexible oxygen filler tube is correctly secured is not a specific preflight checklist item, confirming that the pilot’s and copilot’s MA-l portable oxygen bottles are properly serviced is. Had these units been serviced or checked carefully, it is likely that the absence of the filler tube from its usual position would have been noted. This evidently did not happen, however, and the flexible oxygen line remained where the painter had put it, casually stuffed behind the electrical distribution panel. The stage was now set for calamity, for it was at this point that the effects of Murphy’s Law took over. Running true to form, the earlier solution to the painter’s problem itself became a problem, and when the trouble started, what went wrong did so in the worst possible way. Figure 3. A solution that bred a problem: this reconstruction shows how the filler tube was left in the accident aircraft. The nozzle (arrow) hangs free near a bus bar. When the aircraft began moving into position for its functional test flight, the pendulum motion of the nozzle end of the flexible filler tube during taxi caused the nozzle to touch the bus bar behind the copilot’s side circuit breaker panel, creating a short to ground at the point where the flexible tube contacted the rigid, oxygen-filled line. The rigid oxygen line then started to melt and quickly developed a leak. The result was a rapid sequence of smoke, flame, and then an oxygen-fed blowtorch fire. In this case, the aircraft’s location - on the ground, near fire trucks - coupled with the rapid crew response, prevented injuries and mitigated the effects of the damage. The results of this sort of event in flight can only be hypothesized, but the risks appear to be very high indeed. How ironic that an honest attempt by maintenance people to find a convenient solution to their problem of keeping a flexible oxygen line from being painted also provided the genesis of a new and highly hazardous problem for the operator! Engineering review is currently in process to block unwanted access to Hercules aircraft power distribution areas, but hardware alone cannot provide total protection against the consequences of innovative “solutions†to transient problems that fail to take all possible risk factors into account. No matter how clever the idea, real ingenuity always includes keeping safety job priority number one. It’s the only proof against the inexorable workings of Murphy’s Law.

I came across the article of her passing quite by chance - it never made the local news. She retired the year I enlisted, but she opened so many doors for me. For that I am eternally grateful.

2/17/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The first woman to serve as major general in the Air Force, and the Department of Defense, passed away Feb. 15. Retired Maj. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm is credited as the single driving force in achieving parity for military women and making them a viable part of the mainstream military. The Portland, Ore., native attained the rank of two-star general in 1973 after a career that began 31 years earlier in 1942 when she enlisted in the Army. General Holm entered Women's Army Air Corps in January 1943 where she received a commission as third officer, the WAAC equivalent of second lieutenant. General Holm also became the first woman to attend the Air Command and Staff School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in 1952. She was promoted to brigadier general July 16, 1971, the first female Airman to be appointed in this grade. She was promoted to the grade of major general effective June 1, 1973, with date of rank July 1, 1970 - the first woman in the armed forces to serve in that grade. In recognition of General Holm's pioneering career, Air Force officials renamed the Air Force Officer Accession and Training Schools at Maxwell AFB the Jeanne M. Holm Officer Accession and Citizen Development Center in June 2008. Its mission is Air Force officer recruitment and training within the Air University. General Holm was also an author of two books about women in the military. "Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution" came out in 1982 and was updated in 1994. Four years later she wrote "In Defense of a Nation: Servicewomen in World War II." During World War II, General Holm was assigned to the Women's Army Corps Training Center at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., where she first commanded a basic training company and then a training regiment. At the end of the war, she commanded the 106th WAC Hospital Company at Newton D. Baker General Hospital, W.Va. She then left active military duty in 1946. In October 1948 during the Berlin crisis, she was recalled to active duty with the Army and went to Camp Lee, Va., as a company commander. The following year she transferred to the Air Force, when a new law integrated women in the regular armed forces. General Holm served in a variety of personnel assignments, including director of Women in the Air Force from 1965 to 1973. She played a significant role in eliminating restrictions on numbers of women serving in all ranks, expanding job and duty station assignments for women, opening ROTC and service academies to women, and changing the policies on the status of women in the armed forces. During her tenure, policies affecting women were updated, WAF strength more than doubled, job and assignment opportunities expanded, and uniforms modernized. The general retired in 1975. She served three presidential administrations: special assistant on women for President Gerald Ford, policy consultant for President James Carter and first chairperson of the Veterans Administration's Committee on Women Veterans for President Ronald Reagan.

I'd be cautious about the white paint job - they may be trying to hide some extensive body work!

Thanks for posting that Skip - I sent the message right along to the evil Inhofe and his band of brothers. I always enjoy the return mail from them as to how our service was appreciated....yet the fact that we need to contact them at all.....

I believe I would go back for that - very nice!

Please tell me there is not such animal as E-10!

I got a pretty mug and $250 for the only one I was able to get approved. Had to do with NRTS on flap baffle - one side had a repair, the other did not. Was able to get the TO changed so that both baffles could be repaired on station. Don't recall the cost savings, but appreciated the cash more than the mug!

Before I retired there was a Herc on display at Goodfellow - I had the occasion to pull a part from it - didn't get the tail number or picture, but I'll see if I can get a picture of it from a friend headed that way. A lot can happen if 15 years, but it might still be there.

Not to hijack the thread, but I have such great memories of the "shiny new H models that I first started working at Dyess...then somewhere on this fourm I read a post about the "35 year old aging H's" at Dyess. Made me think back to that ORI to Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. The MX Cheif had dropped me off to get some parts - I had been admiring the 56 model in the hanger - got back in the truck and said "I can't believe it - that the plane is older than me".... Chief said "Shut up - I used to crew that one!" I'm thrilled that the Herk is still in production - but kind of feeling like the Chief these days!

I would think that as long as the linkage was secured for the missing door - and the other door wasn't flapping in the breeze it should not have been a problem. However, I've not seen these job guides that are being cited. If the door was removed to FOM or for an in-shop repair, I would get with QA and seek the necessary blessing or waiver to run the engines. If I could not get the necessary blessings, I'd see if I could still fill out an AFTO 22. Our senior QA inspector was normally an APG or AR troop. Much more reasonable to work with. QA takes many a bad rap - some earned, some not. I didn't enjoy working there nearly as much as crewing, but it was a good experience.

Thanks Casey

I've been a bit out of touch with all things Air Force since trading in that green ID for the blue one....hard to believe 15 years have gone by. Anyone have any insight on the Command Chief Master Sergeants? Did this replace the First Sergeant? Know this is a herk forum but thought perhaps someone more recently retired, or still active might be able to save me from Google. (I retired early T.Q.M) Thanks much!

Actually, the requirement was not that the radome be black, but have the proper antistatic finishing. There was a black neoprene coating which could not be overcoated, a black polyurethane coating that was sometimes overcoated, and an black epoxy antistatic coating that was used if a glossy overcoat was required.

Any one else feel like those were the two best things for cleaning windows?

We used to have a lot of "fun" with the haunted hardstand tales. I remember one foggy night being the one to sit on top of the MLG tires tasked to grab the wrists of the crew chief when he reached through the access doors to un-pin the door....who knew a grown man could scream so loud!