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USAF MC-130J #08-6201 from 522 SOS seen arriving at Nellis AFB on January 21, 2014. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF WC-130J #97-5303 from 53 WRS seen departing Nellis AFB on March 25, 2009. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF WC-130J #97-5304 from 53 WRS seen departing Nellis AFB on March 22, 2011. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF WC-130J #97-5306 from 53 WRS arriving at Nellis AFB on April 8, 2011. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF C-130J #98-1355 from 48 AS (Wearing 314 OG markings) seen recovering to Nellis AFB during MAFEX 12-1. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF C-130J #98-1356 from 48 AS launching from Nellis AFB during MAFEX 11-1 on May 18, 2011. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF C-130J #97-1353 from 48 AS recovering to Nellis AFB during MAFEX 10-1 on May 19, 2010. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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USAF C-130J #92-0553 from 50 AS launching from Nellis AFB during MAFEX 11-2 on November 17, 2011. [Photo by Bruce Smith]
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Fourteen US Air Force C-130Bs were modified in 1959 for a variety of test programs including midair retrieval of film canisters ejected from Discoverer satellites. Discoverer was the cover name of the CIA’s Corona reconnaissance satellite program. This image shows a JC-130B (Air Force serial number 57-0528) with the recovery gear deployed from the cargo ramp about to snag a canister during a training mission over Edwards AFB, California, in July 1969. The capsule and parachute would be dropped from another aircraft at 30,000 feet while the JC-130B crew waited at an altitude of about 18,000 feet. Crews from the 6595th Test Squadron at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, carried out the actual recoveries under a program called Catch A Falling Star. [Lockheed photo]
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USAF C-130B was modified off the assembly line in Marietta, Georgia, as a prototype for a Short Takeoff and Landing transport for the US Army. This aircraft (#58-0712) was fitted with a boundary layer air control system that consisted of a wider rudder, single-hinged flaps instead of the standard Fowler flaps, and two Allison YT56-A-6 jet engines under the outer wings. Bleed air from the jets was blown over the flaps and rudder to enhance lift and controllability. First flown on 8 February 1960, this testbed was flown for twenty-three hours before the Army lost interest in what was to be designated the C-130C. The aircraft later served as a NASA research aircraft. [Lockheed photo]
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The second C-130E to come off the Lockheed-Georgia Company assembly line in Marietta, Georgia, is shown on an acceptance flight over Alabama in this photo from 1962. The aircraft (#61-2359) was first delivered to the 4442nd Combat Crew Training Group at Sewart AFB, Tennessee. [Lockheed photo]
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A lineup of USAF C-130As sits on the Lockheed-Georgia Company production flight line in Marietta, Georgia, in 1957 prior to delivery. One of the first Hercules built, complete with the original Roman nose, sits at the far left. The Hercules in the middle (#55-0005) would eventually be left behind at Tan Son Nhut AB, South Vietnam, as that country fell to Communist forces in 1975. The aircraft to its left (#55-0007) was transferred to the Bolivian Air Force in 1988. The C-130A in the foreground (#55-0009) was destroyed in a rocket attack at Da Nang AB, South Vietnam, in 1967. [Lockheed photo]
