Biggest thing I can put inside a C-130?

The Piper Apache/ Aztec, 7,000 were built between 1952 and 1981.

The Cessna 172 and Beech Bonanza both have longer continuous production histories.  The Bonanza first flew on December 22, 1945.  I took a photo of the 10,000th Bonanza way back in 1978 at the Beech dealership I was a salesman for and I'm sure I flew it some.

The Cessna 172 first flew in June 1955, but it was an outgrowth of the Cessna 170 which first flew in June of 1948.  The tail and the landing gear are the major differences between the 170B and the 172 that replaced it, although the first 170 had a fabric covered wing.  They were all powered by the Continental C-145/O-300 until many years later when the 172 got a Lycoming O-320.  Over 43,000 172's have been built, take that you Bf-109 and Shturmovik fans!

The C-130 first flew in August 1954.  2500 had been built in 2015.  Pretty weak by numbers, but by financial measures it is certainly the largest enterprise of the three.

Here is the cover of the January 1958 Flying magazine which had an article on the 130.  It said that the in-service date for the 130 was mid 1957.  I've always liked this photo, it has the aura of Hans Groenhoff about it but there is no photo credit.

Operation at least. The last new B52 airframe was delivered back in 1962.

squeakie

you know it kinda just slapped me up the side of the head a minute or so ago that the C130 has been in production for over fifty years!! Is there any piece of aircraft equipment still in production that's older? 

According to the Wikipedias, the first flight of the C-130 was 23 August 1954, but the first flight of the B-52 was 23 April 1952.

Extraordinary run, both.

Perhaps a series? Aircraft still in production over 60 years? (You did say you have shelf space...)

-J

GMorrison

'Bout spit my coffee when I saw "Squeakie" and "Bondoman" in the thread...

Long gone.

 

Lord rest their cyber souls...

Caveman, yes Tamiya did make a 1/48 HMMWV. A couple different versions I do recall. I believe that it is currrently out of production due to licensing issues. 

'Bout spit my coffee when I saw "Squeakie" and "Bondoman" in the thread...

Long gone.

How about a Westinghouse TPS43E mobile radar (strictly speaking ours was a W430, the civilianised version). Haven't a clue where you'd find a kit for one, but it sure filled a Herc nicely!

Lockheed was worried that the C-130 was going to put them out of business.  The President of the company wanted everything to work as promised. Well I suspect at the extra attention worked

Didn't Tamiya make a 48 Humvee?  I have one that came with an F-117 kit.  Pretty sure it was by Tamiya.

I was the crew chief on a C-130 E or H model in 1975 or 1976 that successfully test loaded a UH-60 in a C-130 at the Sikorsky plant in Conn. As I remember we took the vertical and horizonal stabs off as well as the main rotor blades and it fit tight.

Geomodeller wrote:

paintsniffer wrote: Say it is a replacement Seahawk being flown out to meet a ship at sea.    Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but how would a Seahawk be unloaded from a C-130 meeting a ship at sea? Can a C-130 land on a carrier? Surely, they wouldn't just push a $28M helicopter out the back on a pallet and hope that it lands on deck??!!!  Interesting project. The mind boggles at the possibilities of what you can put in there. Your suggestion of parachutists sounds good, especially if the aircraft was suspended as if in flight and the jumpers are tumbling out off the ramp.

a barrel roll off the back ramp is not used as much as going out the side door (s). A really neat thing is to watch the guys go out both doors of a C130 at the sametime. Timing is important with that kind of a jump. Going out both sides of the aircraft would be interesting if you could pull it off, but a jump from the ramp would be easier. Personally I like the idea of a multi pallet drop from about three or four feet off the ground using a drag chute. Too bad nobody makes a 1/48th scale Sheridan or Humvee!

gary

Gary, as soon as we got wheels up my helmet would usually go on top of my reserve and my eyes closed until it was time to get ready. The walks afterwards....

Geomodeller wrote:

paintsniffer wrote: Say it is a replacement Seahawk being flown out to meet a ship at sea.    Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but how would a Seahawk be unloaded from a C-130 meeting a ship at sea? Can a C-130 land on a carrier? Surely, they wouldn't just push a $28M helicopter out the back on a pallet and hope that it lands on deck??!!!  Interesting project. The mind boggles at the possibilities of what you can put in there. Your suggestion of parachutists sounds good, especially if the aircraft was suspended as if in flight and the jumpers are tumbling out off the ramp.

The idea was the C-130 takes the seahawk from a stateside base to someplace closer to where the ship is. I have since ditched that idea though. 

But if you want to get picky. Yes, a C-130 has landed on a carrier. And it took off again too. 

stikpusher wrote:

Ish, it looks like the interior of a 130 to me too. I have a few one way trips in those under my belt, and the interior never looked that roomy to me to beginn with. Add any sort of cargo and/or jumpers and it gets cramped in there real quick.

Stick;

I never really knew much about the interior of a C130 as I had my eyes closed all the time leaving nice claw marks in the web seats!! Might have been better with a pair of those Bose noise cancelling headphones. Rather just walk; thank you!

gary

Sikorskies wouldn't fit. A C-130 has landed on a carrier and taken off again, thanks to RATO. With another a/c inside, not likely.

I suppose the idea would be it takes the Hawk out to a remote island like Diego Garcia, and it gets unloaded and assembled, then flies off.

One thing, given the longetivity of the a/c, is the model Herk which gives a time frame. Like for my Entebbe Raider, I had to backdate her to a C.

paintsniffer wrote:

Say it is a replacement Seahawk being flown out to meet a ship at sea.

Pardon my ignorance on the subject, but how would a Seahawk be unloaded from a C-130 meeting a ship at sea? Can a C-130 land on a carrier? Surely, they wouldn't just push a $28M helicopter out the back on a pallet and hope that it lands on deck??!!! 

Interesting project. The mind boggles at the possibilities of what you can put in there.

Your suggestion of parachutists sounds good, especially if the aircraft was suspended as if in flight and the jumpers are tumbling out off the ramp.

Ishthe47guy,

Looks to be the interior of a C-130 alright.  The box structure for the gear area is there and the personnel door is in the right place and you can see the "safety" straps going down at a 45 to the ramp as well as the aft portion in the raised position. 

jeaton01 wrote:

How about the Beech Bonanza, no interuption since 1947, and the Cessna 172 since 1956, more than 43,000 served.

The guy I used to work for flew a couple Cessnas, and he told me several years back that they were getting out of the small private aircraft business (like the 172's) due to liability factors. I didn't know that they still build Bonanzas. Seldom ever see one anymore.

gary

You're right and I had an inkling even as I posted it. But I think the C-130 is the longest US Military aircraft in production. My friend Airman Jim was a scanner on C-124's before he transitioned to C-130's when he got out of the Tennessee ANG and into the USAF full time, or was it the other way around. He's a Master Judge every year at Memphis in May. The man knows bbq.

Anyhow I'm really looking forward to seeing a Globemaster II soon.

I believe it is the oldest still in production.