The retired ‘Fat Albert’ C-130T, brought out for public Pandemic moral display. (Texas Air National Guard photo by Julie Briden-Garcia, 06MAY2020.
On 06MAY2020, the retired C-130T Fat Albert was brought out to help fight CoViD-19 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. After 30-thousand hours of flying in support of the Blue Angels demo team, C-130T Fat Albert was retired to static display duty in 2019.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jess Gray, 28JUL2020.
The new C-130J Fat Albert on second functional check-flight over Cambridge, England, 28JUL2020.
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jess Gray, 28JUL2020.
The ‘new’ Blue Angels Fat Albert is actually an old British empire Royal Air Force C-130J, which underwent rebuild by Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group in United Kingdom. A Forbes report says it cost U.S. taxpayers $29.7-million. (which isn’t too bad, considering that in 2014 a new C-130J would cost between $67-million and $167-million depending on options)
Video by Marshall Aerospace, dressing the bare-metal C-130J in its new Blue Angels uniform:
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Jess Gray, 06AUG2020.
On 06AUG2020, C-130J Fat Albert arrived on Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, Texas.
Video, by Petty Officer Second Class Cody Hendrix, C-130J Fat Albert flying over algae bloom off the Atlantic coast of Florida, 17AUG2020:
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Cody Hendrix, 17AUG2020.
USN photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Cody Hendrix, 17AUG2020.
Nobody is on the beach, what is this, CoViD-19 lockdown?
Photo by AAron B. Hutchins, 1989.
This is a photo I took of a C-130T Fat Albert at the Vandenberg AFB air show in California, Spring 1989. Notice that it is not painted blue and white.
Bare Metal: C-130 PAINT PREP, OR THE EMPEROR GETS SOME NEW CLOTHES
C-130T, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, 04MAR2014. Photo by Staff Sergeant Oscar L Olive the Fourth.
C-130T promotional video by Staff Sergeant Oscar L Olive the Fourth: