The C-130: A Beauty To Behold
This video is fantastic. It will give you a very complete and complex understanding and introduction to the Air Force workhorse the C-130.
It is the oldest continuously produced fixed-wing air platform in our military. It was first introduced in 1954 and has been in continuous production since then.
The C-130 has had more modifications than any other aircraft, and the one you will see and get to go aboard here is the J model.
The video will fill you in on all of this plane's dimensions and capabilities, but you will also get to see what it looks like inside and what it can do in flight.
You'll meet some young, dedicated, and eager Air Force personnel too.
The C-130 is a very versatile platform. It can carry and deliver tons of supplies. You will see a demonstration of how it can deliver those supplies by parachute insertion. It can also be a very effective means for the insertion of parachute troops into a battlefield situation.
This airplane is built in many ways like a jeep. It can land on dirt, sand, and clay surfaces just as readily as on regular tarmac. It has the power to land and take off on short runways. This makes it an excellent means of bringing troops and supplies to the front.
The wingspan on these J model C-130s is something like 130 feet, which is longer than its entire length. As you will see as well, the pilots of the C-130 love to fly this plane.
The Air Force Academy grad who hosts the tour with a fellow classmate who is the pilot for this exercise gets a real education into the capabilities of the C-130 both as a delivery system and as an agile flying machine. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ngdgzXBGo
Dan Doyle is a husband, father, grandfather, Vietnam veteran, and retired professor of Humanities at Seattle University. He taught 13 years at the high school level and 22 years at the university level. He spends his time now babysitting his granddaughter. He is a poet and a blogger as well. Dan holds an AA degree in English Literature, a BA in Comparative Literature, and an MA in Theology, and writes regularly for The Veterans Site Blog.