Herky at Bangkok 1993

hdg · by **hdg** » 14 Oct 2014, 05:37

Hi y'all,

I'm new to this site and the forum and as a start I have a very special query.

On May 17, 1993 I saw a USAF C-130 at Bangkok-Don Muang AB (VTBD). It had a dark grey color scheme with a big bird (crane?) motif on the forward fuselage. Its call sign was ...89 and the last two figures of the serial were read off as 43, thus turning 91-9143 into a candidate for its id.

According to Lars Olaussen's C-130 Production List, 9143 was at that time operated by 328AS. Can any specialist out there confirm its id - or identify the unit using the bird motif so I can start to do further research?

Many thanks in advance.
Hermann (ze German)

Jon · by **Jon** » 16 Oct 2014, 14:15

Any help here, anybody?

Hercmaster · by **Hercmaster** » 20 Mar 2015, 15:26

Could it have been this Special Ops bird #1843 with a Skeletal Vulture on it?

This aircraft was flown by the 711 SOS, 919 SOW at Duke Field, an AFRC unit.

Whity · by **Whity** » 20 Mar 2015, 16:05

Hmmm nose-art with a bird. Like this one perhaps? ;-)

: c130-birds-strike.jpg (302.42 KiB) Viewed 21762 times

Supposedly taken around 1987 just after rotation at Durban International Airport when the aircraft hit a hawk.

hdg · by **hdg** » 20 Mar 2015, 16:14

That could've been the one... I was looking at the bird motif at some distance across the golf course ;-)

so I didn't notice a skeleton.

Thanks a lot for the hint, now I have something to start with!

hdg · by **hdg** » 20 Mar 2015, 16:19

LOL Whity... nope, it looked a bit different. An interesting art form though...

Hercmaster · by **Hercmaster** » 20 Mar 2015, 16:40

hdg wrote:Thanks a lot for the hint, now I have something to start with!

Just curious, why is it that you have such a particular interest in this one? Is it because he messed up your golf game? ;-)

hdg · by **hdg** » 20 Mar 2015, 21:20

Well, it's the only Herc from my spotting holidays back in 1993 that I was unable to identify so far. 62-1843 ( msn 3990) is an interesting one since its original tail number was 64-0506 and it "adopted" the new serial from an A model which crashed into a hill on approach to Tuy Hoa, South Viet Nam on Dec 20, 1965 with sadly the loss of all 5 crew.

Its last model designation is MC-130E-Y Rivet Yank (without Fulton gear). Is it possible that 1843 was already painted in Battleship Grey in 1993 when most if not all of the MCs were still painted in the European One "lizard" scheme then?

bobdaley · by **bobdaley** » 21 Mar 2015, 14:47

The original 62-1843 3806 was a C-130E not an A.

Bob