Hi, I am a new member whose dad flew the Herky for a good portion of his USAF career. My dad passed on 6 Nov 2013 (in fact, yesterday would have been his 92nd birthday).
Among mementos he left behind were several pictures of him and others, standing outside the crew hatch of a C-130. That airplane was Lockheed RC-130A Hercules 54-1632A. In Dec 1957 he "signed for the keys" to that aircraft; and on 1 Jan 58, along with his crew, he flew it from the Lockheed-Georgia Division Plant in Marietta, GA, to its very first unit of assignment: the 1370th Photo Mapping Wing (1370 PMW) at Palm Beach AFB, FL.
Our family did not know--or at least, did not recall--dad's intimate association with that airplane. After we found out, it made me very proud. Once I found that 54-1632A still existed somewhere, I felt a weird obligation to visit. And after telling the yard's owner the story of my father's "adventure" with 54-1632A, he was extremely gracious in permitting me to examine the plane closely, both inside and out.
I read a couple other threads regarding the "Roman nose," and how it looked. So, I cropped two fairly decent pictures and I thought I would post them here. (I included a shot of my father and his crew; he is on the left) I am also including a link to my Flickr account, where you can see all the pictures I took on 18 Oct 2017 of 54-1632A as it rests today at the Western International Aviation, Inc., storage yard in Tucson, AZ.
Another good web site for more info about 54-1632A is http://www.1370th.org. I wish somehow 54-1632A could find its way to a "proper" resting place, an aircraft museum. I like to think it is an aircraft worthy of restoration, given its early Hercules lineage, as well as the mission of the 1370th: "Photo Mapping the World" https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/air-force-world-maps-cold-war/
Roman Nose
in C-130 General
Posted
Hi, I am a new member whose dad flew the Herky for a good portion of his USAF career. My dad passed on 6 Nov 2013 (in fact, yesterday would have been his 92nd birthday).
Among mementos he left behind were several pictures of him and others, standing outside the crew hatch of a C-130. That airplane was Lockheed RC-130A Hercules 54-1632A. In Dec 1957 he "signed for the keys" to that aircraft; and on 1 Jan 58, along with his crew, he flew it from the Lockheed-Georgia Division Plant in Marietta, GA, to its very first unit of assignment: the 1370th Photo Mapping Wing (1370 PMW) at Palm Beach AFB, FL.
Our family did not know--or at least, did not recall--dad's intimate association with that airplane. After we found out, it made me very proud. Once I found that 54-1632A still existed somewhere, I felt a weird obligation to visit. And after telling the yard's owner the story of my father's "adventure" with 54-1632A, he was extremely gracious in permitting me to examine the plane closely, both inside and out.
I read a couple other threads regarding the "Roman nose," and how it looked. So, I cropped two fairly decent pictures and I thought I would post them here. (I included a shot of my father and his crew; he is on the left) I am also including a link to my Flickr account, where you can see all the pictures I took on 18 Oct 2017 of 54-1632A as it rests today at the Western International Aviation, Inc., storage yard in Tucson, AZ.
Another good web site for more info about 54-1632A is http://www.1370th.org. I wish somehow 54-1632A could find its way to a "proper" resting place, an aircraft museum. I like to think it is an aircraft worthy of restoration, given its early Hercules lineage, as well as the mission of the 1370th: "Photo Mapping the World" https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/air-force-world-maps-cold-war/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24351816@N06/albums/72157688329114064 (Disclaimer: I am an AWFUL photographer.
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