Daryl Hunt
Your Worst Nightmare
- Banned
- #1
Why the C-130 Is Such a Badass Plane
Amidst the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Saigon in April 1975, a young man in the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF), Tinh Nguyen, peered out from a bunker at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. The airfield had been under North Vietnamese mortar fire all night and more than 100 aircraft had been destroyed. But there was still one flyable C-130A (the initial production version). During a lull in the firing, it taxied toward the runway navigating around the smoking debris. This massive plane's rear ramp was still open with a crowd of people huddling on it, and Nguyen knew he had to get to it.
With others, he made a desperate dash from the bunker toward the lurching C-130.
"Every time [the pilot] jammed on the brake, it pushed the passengers forward," Nguyen told Fox News in 2014. "It created more space in the back… So, I jumped in. Everybody jumped in. And a few minutes after that, the ramp door closed..."
Designed to carry only 90 paratroopers, the Hercules's belly was bursting with far more people than that. Its lone pilot, a VNAF major, pushed its four Allison T56 turboprops to full throttle and began his takeoff down the 10,000 foot runway.
At the opposite end of the runway, the airplane still hadn't taken wing.
But in the runway's 1000-foot overrun, the C-130 staggered into the air. After a harrowing flight, it touched down three and a half hours later at U Tapao Royal Thai AB, southeast of Bangkok. On the ramp, American personnel were visibly surprised as they watched 452 people disembark. With herculean effort, the C-130 had lifted more than 20,000 pounds above its operational limit.
The C-130 has been a lifesaver during its six-decade history. It's been a death-bringer, too.
Click on the url to read the whole article.
Amidst the chaotic withdrawal of American forces from Saigon in April 1975, a young man in the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF), Tinh Nguyen, peered out from a bunker at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. The airfield had been under North Vietnamese mortar fire all night and more than 100 aircraft had been destroyed. But there was still one flyable C-130A (the initial production version). During a lull in the firing, it taxied toward the runway navigating around the smoking debris. This massive plane's rear ramp was still open with a crowd of people huddling on it, and Nguyen knew he had to get to it.
With others, he made a desperate dash from the bunker toward the lurching C-130.
"Every time [the pilot] jammed on the brake, it pushed the passengers forward," Nguyen told Fox News in 2014. "It created more space in the back… So, I jumped in. Everybody jumped in. And a few minutes after that, the ramp door closed..."
Designed to carry only 90 paratroopers, the Hercules's belly was bursting with far more people than that. Its lone pilot, a VNAF major, pushed its four Allison T56 turboprops to full throttle and began his takeoff down the 10,000 foot runway.
At the opposite end of the runway, the airplane still hadn't taken wing.
But in the runway's 1000-foot overrun, the C-130 staggered into the air. After a harrowing flight, it touched down three and a half hours later at U Tapao Royal Thai AB, southeast of Bangkok. On the ramp, American personnel were visibly surprised as they watched 452 people disembark. With herculean effort, the C-130 had lifted more than 20,000 pounds above its operational limit.
The C-130 has been a lifesaver during its six-decade history. It's been a death-bringer, too.
Click on the url to read the whole article.
