Tag Archives: c-130

Kit Bashing, Technology

Bare Metal: C-130 paint prep, or the Emperor gets some new clothes

Video November 18, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Ohio Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Alexis Wade, 31JUL2019.

July 2019, Ohio National Guard C-130H2 gets new tail markings.

Video from 2018, Dobbins Air Reserve, Georgia, explains how they picked the nose art for their C-130s:

Wyoming National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Jimmy McGuire, 16NOV2017.

In November 2017, after Hurricane Maria laid waste to Puerto Rico’s Air National Guard base their C-130Es were sent to Wyoming to get some depot maintenance. Yes, using a roller brush to apply primer paint.

Missouri Air National Guard photo by Airman First Class Audrey Chappell, 12JUN2018.

June 2018, this C-130H is fresh from the paint shop, with its Cold War era camo, heading to its new home as permanent ‘gate-guard’ for Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, Missouri.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sergeant Dana J. Cable, 26OCT2017.

October 2017, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, a vinyl decal is readied for use as the new tail flash for the 314th Airlift Wing’s C-130Js.

USAF photo by Greg L. Davis, 09FEB2017.

United States Marine Corps KC-130T sits at Oklahoma City (Tinker) Air Logistics Complex, waiting for new clothes, February 2017.

Oklahoma City Air Logistics video explainer:

USAF photo by Tommie Horton, 27JUL2015.

Masking the windows of a C-130 for painting, July 2015, at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex, Georgia.

Warner Robins video explainer:

McChord Air Museum photo, 25NOV2014.

November 2014, McChord Air Museum, Washington, primer paints C-130 for static display.

McChord Air Museum photo, 10DEC2014.

McChord Air Museum photo, 08JAN2015.

It took two months but finally, in January 2015, McChord Air Museum’s Vietnam era C-130 is almost ready for display.

USAF photo by Danny Webb, 09OCT2013.

Sheppard AFB, Texas, October 2013.

BARE METAL: C-17 STRIPPED

BARE METAL BOMBERS: B-1B & B-52H

U.S.

“unintentional water landing”: U.S. Airman mysteriously ‘disappears’ into Gulf of Mexico!

Video November 7, 2019 Hutchins AAron

06 November 2019 / 18:57 UTC-07 Tango 06 (16 Aban 1398/09 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1441/11 Yi-Hai 4717)

“We will search as much as the crew duty day, gas and conditions allow us until we find our brother in arms.”-Lieutenant Colonel Chad Senior, 920th Deputy Group Commander/Combat Rescue Officer

The U.S. Air Force reports that a Special Tactics Airman (24th Special Ops Wing) went missing while taking part in static line jump training over the Gulf of Mexico.

Video, 39th Rescue Squadron preps HC-130N Combat King for search mission, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, 06NOV2019:

Since 05NOV2019, crews onboard a HC-130N Combat King and HH-60G Black Hawks are searching for the Airman. USAF-Reserve, U.S. Army, Coast Guard, Florida Fish & Wildlife and even local Sheriff’s units are helping with the search.

Official USAF announcements stated the Airman made an “unintentional water landing”. At this time the USAF is not reporting any details about the incident.

Video, 301st Rescue Squadron HH-60G taxis for search flight, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, 06NOV2019:

MOUNT WHITNEY DEATH TRAP, SAR MONEY PIT

RESCUING DOGS, AND DOGS WHO’LL RESCUE YOU!

Technology, U.S.

Airborne Hurricane Hunters, when did it all start?

Video September 2, 2019 Hutchins AAron

The first hurricane (typhoon) hunter was a pilot flying a Second World War T-6 Texan through the eye of a hurricane, on a dare! Realizing that flying through a hurricane was doable, the U.S. Air Force set upon a long journey of modifying aircraft to collect weather data about hurricanes.

The first data collected, in 1944 by B-25 bombers (WB-25 Army Hurricane Reconnaissance Unit), is credited with saving hundreds of lives. Prior to the development of airborne hurricane hunters, thousands of people in the United States died as a result of hurricanes, but after the use of flying weather trackers the average death toll dropped significantly.

Painting by Thomas Wojahn of a WB-50 of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Falcon Alpha Mission-1957.

Perhaps the name The Hurricane Hunters came from the the title of a book first published in 1955 about the U.S. military’s obsession with tracking hurricanes. Download your free copy here.

Silent U.S. Navy film, from 1961, showing the use of the EC-121 Warning Star (WV-2) ‘AWACS’ as a hurricane hunter:

Hunter AFB, WB-47E City of Savannah Hurricane Hunter I, September 1963.

Even the B-47 strategic bomber (WB-47) was used as a Hurricane Hunter.

WC-130 Hercules f the 815th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, 920th Weather Reconnaissance Group, being prepared for a mission to monitor Hurricane Allen, August 1980.

Official USAF video history report, including the T-6, B-25, B-29 (WB-50) and C-130:

A USAF WC-130 Hercules from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, ‘Hurricane Hunters’, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. USAF photo dated 1995.

But it not just lives that are saved with the creation of airborne hurricane hunters, in this 2018 video report about the purpose of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi) it’s revealed that mass evacuations of the public cost one-million USD per mile of coastline! Taxpayer costs can be reduced by providing accurate weather data to allow for more timely evacuation orders:

HurricaneHunters.com

WC-130J & WP-3D: HUNTING DORIAN

T-6 SNJ TEXAN POKEY AIRPORT, 2012 & 2014

Technology

Dorian more powerful than U.S. military aircraft?

Video September 2, 2019 Hutchins AAron

02SEP2019, U.S. Coast Guard deploys C-130s in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian.

Evacuation of E-8C J-STARS from Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, 02SEP2019:

On 01SEP2019, U.S. Customs & Border Protection transferred one of their UH-60 Black Hawks from Puerto Rico to Homestead, Florida, to be used in hurricane rescue operations:

U.S. CBP also deployed P-3 Orions to Homestead, Florida, 31AUG2019.

Florida National Guard helicopters staged in the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, 01SEP2019.

MH-60R Sea Hawks assigned to USN’s Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 48, in Florida, were sent to Maxwell Air Force Base, in Alabama, to escape the wrath of Dorian, 01SEP2019.

Video of preparations to exodus Naval Air Station Jacksonville:

Video of arrival at Maxwell AFB:

On 30AUG2019, Florida National Guard F-15C/D Eagles evacuated to Ohio. Video of arrival of Florida Eagles at Wright-Patterson AFB:

A USN Patrol Squadron 26 P-8 Poseidon arrives at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 30AUG2019.

30AUG2019, USN’s Patrol Squadron 10 evacuates P-8 Poseidon from NAS Jacksonville:

On 30AUG2019, Little Rock Air Force Base, Alabama, began accepting military aircraft from locations within the projected path of Hurricane Dorian:

HC-130 Combat King from Georgia.

A-10C Thunderbolt-2s from Georgia.

At Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, A-29 Super Tacanos were locked down in the hangers:

29AUG2019, KC-135Rs evacuate MacDill Air Force Base, Florida:

WC-130J & WP-3D: HUNTING DORIAN

SLOW DISASTER RELIEF: FLORIDA MILITIA DISCOVERS A MAJOR CAUSE, NEW PREPS FOR HURRICANES!

ALABAMA MILITIA PREPS FOR HURRICANE USING WORLD’S LARGEST MAP OF ALABAMA!

Technology

WC-130J & WP-3D: Hunting Dorian

Video September 2, 2019 Hutchins AAron

The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, U.S. Air Force Reserve out of Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, went hunting for a hurricane named Dorian. Video, WC-130J take-off preps, 31AUG2019:

The crew of the WC-130J Super Hercules gathered data for the National Hurricane Center. Video, onboard the WC-130J, 31AUG2019:

Personnel from the U.S. Naval Academy observes data from the Navy Airborne Expendable Bathythermographs deployed from the WC-130J Super Hercules. USAF photo by Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo.

Preparing to drop a Navy Airborne Expendable Bathythermograph into the hurricane. USAF photo by Lieutenant Colonel Marnee A.C. Losurdo.

WC-130J returns from Hunting Dorian, 05SEP2019. USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Christopher Carranza.

USAF photo by Randy Bynon, 13NOV2019.

Video from NOAA (National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration) WP-3D Orion (aka N42RF Kermit the Frog-Sky Hopper), flying the Eye of Dorian, 01SEP2019:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration WP-3D Orion, Keesler AFB. USAF photo by Randy Bynon, 13NOV2019.

2017: WC-130J SUPER HERCULES TRACKS HURRICANE HARVEY

HARVEY: WHAT’S A DROPSONDE?

U.S.

All hell breaks loose in Wisconsin, operation Patriot North is underway!

Video July 18, 2019 Hutchins AAron

Video, Nebraska National Guard UH-72 Lakota joins the fun:

Food insecurity, unemployment, failed national and local governments, and non-stop natural disasters leading to race riots and civil war. It’s July 2019 and Wisconsin is ground zero for Patriot North 2019 DomOps (Domestic Operations).

New Hampshire Air National Guard medic treats a ‘person’ wounded by a ‘zombie’ at Camp Douglas.

Apparently various National Guard focused ‘patriot’ operations are not called patriot because they’re trying to be patriotic, the ‘patriot’ exercises are a directive of the Patriot Act signed into law after the 9-11 attacks.

Official video explaining The Burn Pit:

Starting the third week of July, Air and Army National Guard units from across the United States converged upon Volk Field and Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, for a massive domestic ‘natural-or-man-made’ disaster response exercise.

Video of Texas National Guard C-130H landing on dirt:

More than 7-hundred federal and local government employees, civilian volunteers and National Guard personnel from more than 20 states are taking part in the inter-agency operation, in preparation for catastrophic events.

Video, various National Guard C-130H Hercules rolling into Wisconsin, off-loading personnel, rescue dogs and equipment:

Patriot South 2019 was already held, in Georgia, back in March. Watch this official promo video and be afraid of what your government is expecting:

June 2019: ARKANSAS HIT BY UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE, USAF SCRAMBLED!

Tornado prep, USAF style: TORNADO & FLOOD FACTS, ACCORDING TO THE USAF, HOW TO PREP!

Technology

Fatal USMC KC-130J crash kept secret?

July 17, 2019 Hutchins AAron

In December 2018, a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J was refueling a F/A-18 over Okinawa, Japan, when they aircraft made contact. Both the F/A-18 and KC-130J went down, only one person survived.

It was not until the end of May of 2019 that the KC-130J’s cockpit voice recorder and digital flight recorder, along with human remains. And it was not until June of 2019 that the information was made public. As the investigation is still ongoing no further details were released.

Kit Bashing

Model kit EC-130J gets special handling by National Guard!

Video July 17, 2019 Hutchins AAron

A real 193rd Special Operations Wing EC-130J Commando Solo, October 2020. Air National Guard photo by Munnaf Joarder.

In April 2019, Pennsylvania’s 193rd Special Operations Wing’s Fabrication Shop recently was given the opportunity to repaint the EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft model outside the wing HQ building.

Video of repairs to model that has been on display since 2006: