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January

6 Jan 1966 C-130B #61-0972, c/n 3669, of the 463d Troop Carrier Wing, carrying a load of ammunition, was shot down west of Pleiku, South Vietnam while en route from the US Army's 1st Air Cavalry base at An Khe to Pleiku.
9 Jan 1966 C-130B #61-0970, c/n 3667, of the 774th Troop Carrier Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Wing, crashed on landing at An Kh

February

1 Feb 1966 USMC KC-130F BuNo #149809, c/n 3709, of VMGR-152, damaged over North Vietnam, crashed in sea 65 kilometers east of

March

19 Mar 1966 The crew of seven was killed when C-130B #61-2641, c/n 3677, of the 313th Troop Carrier Wing, crashed into Svanfjellet at 2,650 feet on the island of Senja on approach to Bardufoss Air Station, Norway.
26 Mar 1966 C-130A #56-0506, c/n 3114, of the 41st Troop Carrier Squadron, damaged landing at Tuy Hoa, South Vietnam, due to propeller reversal problem. Swerved into ditch to avoid truck at end of runway. Crew survived. Destroyed when towed by tank. Fuselage adapted for use as Officers Club building at Tuy Hoa.
29 Mar 1966 C-130B #61-0953, c/n 3630, of the 29th Troop Carrier Squadron, written-off after it touched down short of the runway during night landing at Pleiku, South Vietnam. Three crew killed, two survived.

April

15 Apr 1966 CC-130E #10304 of the Royal Canadian Air Force crash landed in a field after losing a forward cargo door inflight, resulting in structural damage due to explosive decompression.

May

31 May 1966 C-130E #64-0511, c/n 3995, of the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron, 64th Troop Carrier Wing, shot down during Project Carolina Moon operation against the Thanh H

June

17 Jun 1966 USAF Military Airlift Command C-130E #63-7785, c/n 3852, operated by U.S. Navy squadron VR-7 under MAC control, out of Naval Air Station Moffett, California, exploded over sea after departing Cam Ranh Bay, Republic of Vietnam. Chris Hobson reported in his volume 'Vietnam Air Losses', (Midland Publishing, 2001) on page 62 that '(t)he aircraft came down about 45 miles northeast of Nha Trang and about five miles off a small spit of land south of Phu Hiep. Although very little of the aircraft was ever found it was strongly suspected that the aircraft had been a victim of sabotage by Vietnamese communist sympathisers who worked at the base.' This was the first Navy operated Hercules to be lost, but it was on loan from an Air Force unit. Serial number subsequently applied to C-130E 64-0507, c/n 3991, in 1972, which was assigned 'to another agency' December 31, 1964, and flew Air America missions in support of CIA operations in Southeast Asia in a 'sanitized' condition. Operated into Laos in all-black scheme. Operated by the 1198th OETS out of Norton Air Force Base (from October 1967), and modified to C-130E(I) Combat Talon, then assigned to the 1174th Support Squadron, Norton Air Force Base. To 1st Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida, December 1972, now sporting the 63-7785, c/n 3852, identity. Modified to Rivet Yank in 1974, and redesignated MC-130E in early 1977. Ops by the 8th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida, mid-1995, then to 711th Special Operations Squadron, Duke Field, Florida by November 1995. Loan to 8th Special Operations Squadron, as of November 2005.

July

15 Jul 1966 C-130B #24142 of the Pakistan Air Force (6 Squadron) crashed into mountain in Pakistan. All ten aboard killed.

September

6 Sep 1966 C-130E #63-7878, c/n 3949, of the 776th Troop Carrier Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Wing, out of Ching Chuan Kang crashed into a mountain in Taiwan due to a navigation error during logistics flight from Southeast Asia. Five crew and three passengers killed.

October

2 Oct 1966 C-130E #62-1840, c/n 3803, of the 776th Troop Carrier Squadron, shot down 30 kilometers south of Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam.
12 Oct 1966 C-130E #63-7886, c/n 3957, of the 516th Troop Carrier Wing, flew into ground at night c. 30 kilometers north-northwest of Aspermont, Texas. It impacts in a brushy pasture on the 6666 Ranch, 75 miles NW of Abilene, near U.S. 83. Only one of the crew of six survives, a loadmaster, who is pulled from the wreckage by a passing truck driver, Carroll Brezee. He was in critical condition. The fuselage and tail section lay near the center of a burned area about 50 X 200 yards, with parts scattered along a half-mile stretch. Sheriff E. W. Hollar, of Guthrie, nine miles N of the crash site, said that persons first reaching the scene found two bodies. A ground party from Dyess AFB found the other three in a search through heavy mesquite brush. Authorities said that these were the first fatalities in the 516th Troop Carrier Wing since it was formed at Dyess in December 1958.
25 Oct 1966 C-130B #61-0955, c/n 3634, of the 48th Troop Carrier Squadron, ran off runway during landing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky after hitting wake turbulence
26 Oct 1966 C-130E #2452 of the Brazilian Air Force (1 Esquadrão, 1 Grupo, Galeão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), crashed during landing with a high sink rate.

December

19 Dec 1966 The first C-130K C.1 #XV177 delivered to the RAF.