Lockheed LC-130

LC-130 Hercules
	An LC-130 “Skibird” assigned to the 139th Airlift Squadron, takes off from Williams Field
Role	Ski-equipped military transport aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Lockheed ; Lockheed Martin
First flight	1956
Status	Active
Primary users	United States Air Force; United States Navy (former)
Developed from	C-130 Hercules

The Lockheed LC-130 is a ski-equipped United States Air Force variant of the C-130 Hercules used in the Arctic and Antarctic. Ten are currently in service with the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard.[1]

Design and development

The LC-130 started as a prototype model developed by modifying a C-130A with skis in 1956.[2] After testing in 1957, 12 additional C-130A models were modified with skis and hydraulics under the designation of C-130D.[2][3] In 1959 the first four factory equipped, ski-based Hercules were produced under the Navy designation of UV-1L. These C-130's are USAF C-130B models. Later in the program the designation was changed from UV-1L to C-130BL. This designation was again later changed to LC-130F when aircraft nomenclature was standardized for all services by the U. S. Defense Department in 1962. These four aircraft were bought by the Navy Department to support the Navy's Antarctic expedition that was ongoing at the time.[3] The Navy also bought one LC-130R model in 1968. The National Science Foundation bought the second set of aircraft as replacement aircraft. The Polar Program Division of the Foundation had assumed management of the Antarctic Program in the early 1970s. These aircraft were designated LC-130R and were delivered in two lots: the first lot of three in 1974 and the remaining two in 1976.

The primary mission of the LC-130 is supporting the scientific community in Antarctica by transporting cargo and personnel from the McMurdo Station to field stations and camps, including the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.

Close up of LC-130 nose ski

The aircraft are equipped with retractable skis that allow the aircraft to land on snow and ice as well as on conventional runways. The aircraft have provisions for using rocket-assisted-takeoff (RATO) rockets, four on each side of the aircraft, that are installed and used when the LC-130 operates from rough, unprepared snow surfaces, sticky snow or when shorter takeoff runs are needed. Originally the expended rocket bottles were jettisonable, but due to several accidents which occurred when a bottle detached from the aircraft during takeoff, the mounting provisions were changed so that the bottles could not be released in the air.

Operational history

The Navy Antarctic Development Squadron Six (First designated VX-6, then VXE-6 from 1969) originally operated the LC-130 aircraft. Initially, VXE-6 was home based at the Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island and later at the Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California. Operation of the aircraft was transferred in 1999 to the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard when Navy support of the Antarctic program was terminated and VXE-6 was decommissioned.

There have been two crashes in Antarctica. The first crash occurred in 1971 at an ice runway 860 miles (1,380 km) from McMurdo Station as a result of two JATO bottles ejecting improperly and striking the plane's propeller. The second crash occurred when a second similar aircraft was destroyed, while delivering replacement parts for the first aircraft; this resulted in two fatalities and nine injuries. The repaired aircraft was flown to McMurdo Station in 1987 at a cost of $10 million and thence to Christchurch, New Zealand.[4]

Currently all LC-130 aircraft are operated by the New York Air National Guard and are based at the Air National Guard's facility at Schenectady County Airport. There are two versions. Seven aircraft are LC-130H-2 (Three of these were Navy LC-130R from VXE-6 converted to LC-130H-2). Three are the LC-130H-3 model.

Aircraft on display

An LC-130 is on display at the main entrance to Stratton Air National Guard Base, located at the Schenectady County Airport in Schenectady, NY.

gollark: Fair, although they're somewhat more *complex* than "magic uninterceptable channel"l.

gollark: So only stuff like PotatOS ship strong crypto nowadays.

gollark: The other way would be some sort of hypercomplex crypto solution, but it would probably have its own problems and I think SquidDev said no to including that sort of thing in core CraftOS.

gollark: If they made it magically uninterceptable, that would be uncool and bad for learning.

gollark: Anyway, if they removed the rednet API, that would break 12471892518295 programs but stop people using a not-secure-even-though-it-looks-like-it-is API.

References

Jackson, Kerry (October 22, 2010). "New York LC-130 leaves Hickam for Operation Deep Freeze". National Guard. 13th Air Force Public Affairs. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
Bailey, Nolan W. Sr. (1996). "Development of the C-130D". www.firebirds.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
Bailey, Nolan W. Sr. (2003). "C-130D Ski Herc Production Listing". Firebirds. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
Stark, Krishna (July 1988). Antarctic snowbird flying after 17-year deep freeze. New York: Flying Magazine. p. 20.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Jackson, Kerry (October 22, 2010). "New York LC-130 leaves Hickam for Operation Deep Freeze". National Guard. 13th Air Force Public Affairs. Retrieved 2018-12-21.

[:0-2] Bailey, Nolan W. Sr. (1996). "Development of the C-130D". www.firebirds.org. Retrieved 2018-12-21.

[:1-3] Bailey, Nolan W. Sr. (2003). "C-130D Ski Herc Production Listing". Firebirds. Retrieved 2018-12-21.

[4] Stark, Krishna (July 1988). Antarctic snowbird flying after 17-year deep freeze. New York: Flying Magazine. p. 20.

Lockheed C-130 Hercules
Basic versions	C-130A C-130E C-130H C-130J
Modified variants	AC-130 DC-130 EC-130E EC-130H EC-130J HC-130 KC-130 LC-130 MC-130 RC-130 WC-130
Civil variants	L-100 L-382
Related lists	Accidents and incidents Operators

United States military transport aircraft designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems
Army/Air Force sequence (1925-1962)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7 C-8 C-9 C-10 C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16 C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20 C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 C-28 C-29 C-30 C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34 C-35 C-36 C-37 C-38 C-39 C-40 C-41 A C-42 C-43 C-44 C-45 C-46 C-47 T C-48 C-49 C-50 C-51 C-52 C-53 C-54 C-55 C-56 C-57 C-58 C-59 C-60 C-61 C-62 C-63 C-64 C-65 C-66 C-67 C-68 C-69 C-70 A B C/D C-71 C-72 C-73 C-74 C-75 C-76 C-77 B-D C-78 C-79 C-80 C-81 C-82 C-83 C-84 C-85 C-86 C-87 C-88 C-89 C-90 C-91 C-92 C-93 C-94 C-95 C-96 C-97 KC-97 C-98 C-99 C-100 C-101 C-102 C-103 C-104 C-105 C-106 C-107 C-108 C-109 C-110 C-111 C-112 C-113 C-114 C-115 C-116 C-117 C-118 C-119 C-120 C-121 F C-122 C-123 A C-124 C-125 C-126 C-127 (I) C-127 (II) C-128 C-129 C-130 J C-131 C-132 C-133 C-134 C-135 KC-135 C-136 C-137 C-138¹ C-139¹ C-140 C-141 C-142
Tri-service sequence (1962-present)	C-1 C-2 C-3 C-4 C-5 C-6 C-7 B C-8 C-9 C-10 (I) C-10 (II) C-11 C-12 C-13¹ C-14 C-15 C-16¹ C-17 C-18 C-19 C-20A-D F-H C-21 C-22 C-23 C-24 C-25 C-26 C-27 J C-28 C-29 C-30¹ C-31 C-32 C-33 C-34¹ C-35 C-36 C-37A B C-38 C-39¹ C-40 C-41 C-42¹ C-43¹ C-44¹ C-45 C-46
Revived original sequence (2005-present)	C-143 C-144 C-145 C-146 C-147
Non-sequential designations	C-767 C-880
Related designations	CV-2 CV-7
¹ Not assigned See also: AC-47 • AC-119 • AC-130 • DC-130 • EC-130 • HC-130 • KC-130 • LC-130 • MC-130 • WC-130 • CT-39 • CT-43