Happy Birthday, you beautiful Herk.

My plane turned 60 today. Celebrate the four fans of freedom.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/19/after-60-years-c-130-still-magnificent-machine/

The engines are still upside down though

Man, every time! Damn P3 guys....

Always did like those workhorses. Comes from growing up in the country where the local ANG wing would do extreme low level training over my house.

Scariest damn thing I ever rode in

And it's still in use by it's original customer, a very rare feat for many aircraft.

Happy birthday, big girl.

I love seeing those things flying around RIC. Every once in a while I see one of these also:

They may have an operational life as long as the B-52 when its all over.

the DC 3, the C130, and the B52 … are there any other air frames that have those kind of life spans ?

I know that the F5 Phantom has had (and continues to have) a long life ….

de Havilland Beaver

Good plane to take off in. Can't say what landings are like ...

Airborne!

The amazing thing about the Herk is that Lockheed expected they might sell 50 of them when they designed it.

Anybody know the highest air hours on a Hercules airframe? I know there are DC-3s/C-47s pushing 100,000 hours. There was a 747 that had 107,000 hours on it when it retired. That's more than 12 years off the ground.

C-130 - the Crown Vic of the skies

707.

I'm sure some are still in use as air-to-air refueling tankers.

The Martin Mars were still flying up until a couple years ago. They built four but they're down to the last one now.

I think there's still some Catalinas and B-24's operating as water bombers.

Shawn

wbjones wrote: the DC 3, the C130, and the B52 … are there any other air frames that have those kind of life spans ? I know that the F5 Phantom has had (and continues to have) a long life ….

In reply to Trans_Maro:

While the kc-135 is visually similar to the 707, they are actually very different aircraft. Though the 135 has also been in service for a really long time, also over 50 years with the Air Force. Don't forget the Canberra bomber, Tu-95 bear, T-38 talon, and the U-2 spy plane, all of which also served over 50 years with their original customers, along with the C-130 and B-52.

There is also the A-4 skyhawk, which is still in front line service with several countries, including Brazil, where it is operated from their aircraft carrier. It entered service a few months before the herky bird.

C130 landed on a carrier? Amazing!

Reminds me of home, biggest fleet of them are based out of Little Rock AFB, in Jacksonville, AR. Have never understood why it's called LRAFB when there's no less than 2 incorporated cities between it and Little Rock, let alone the fact that it's in Jacksonville, but I digress.

I grew up about 15 miles due North of the base, and my grandparent's house was about a mile and a half as the crow flys south west of the Drop Zone, where they practiced. Those big lumbering green Hulks were and still are an ever present part of living in central AR. Watching maneuvers and giant things get pushed out the back was always a hoot. The drone of a low flying C-130 will always remind me of home and my youth.

Trans_Maro wrote: 707. I'm sure some are still in use as air-to-air refueling tankers. The Martin Mars were still flying up until a couple years ago. They built four but they're down to the last one now. I think there's still some Catalinas and B-24's operating as water bombers. Shawn

wbjones wrote: the DC 3, the C130, and the B52 … are there any other air frames that have those kind of life spans ? I know that the F5 Phantom has had (and continues to have) a long life ….

There are lots of examples of individual airframes built before/during WW2 that are still flying. And that's impressive, but it's not really the same thing as a model that's been in continuous military service--not to mention continuous production--for over 50 years.

U2 has been around for a long time... but enough about you, lets get back to me:

Saw one take off from a local airport a few days ago. No idea what it was doing there in the first place.

spitfirebill wrote: They may have an operational life as long as the B-52 when its all over.

Chinook.

In reply to Will:

That's impressive, I didn't realise they were still in production.

Damn. +1 on living under military aircraft. I grew up under the jets out of NAS Oceana.

All this and no one mentions the scariest motherberkeleyer on the battle field?