C-130E Hercules a mighty multitask aircraft

From the window where I work as a volunteer at the Museum of Aviation, I can see our C-130E Hercules. Often, I can also see the C-130s coming in to land on base or see them as they climb and turn toward their next destination. This aircraft is such a workhorse, not just for the United States Air Force, but for many countries around the world. In times of war or disasters or a major crisis, governments and organizations use C-130s to get needed supplies to the right places.

After the Korean War, there was a need for a more modern combat transport. The Air Force wanted something that was bigger than the twin-engine C-123. The four-engine C-130 was first produced in 1954. The initial purpose was for cargo, medical evacuation and troop transport. Now the multitask aircraft is known for its capability not only for transport, but also airborne assault, search and rescue, maritime patrol, weather reconnaissance, and aerial firefighting, among other things.

One facet of the history of the C-130 is the story of the experimental version of the aircraft named the HTTB, or the High Technology Test Bed. Called the “flying laboratory,” the HTTB was built by Lockheed Martin as a modified L-100, which was a commercial version of the C-130. The HTTB first flew in June 1984. It was to be the next great airplane for the military.

Recently my friend Kenny Rooke came to visit the Museum of Aviation. Retired Lt. Col. Rooke had flown C-130s for some time during his 28-year career in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves. Kenny also had flown the EB-57, T-33, and C-7, but it was the HTTB that he had flown that was of great interest to me.

Kenny wanted to become a pilot early on as a child. He had model airplanes and flew them. It was the space program, however, that intrigued him. As a graduate of Auburn University in aerospace engineering and having been in ROTC, he signed up for pilot training. Kenny shared that at the time when asked what he wanted to do he would reply, “Doesn’t everybody want to be a pilot?” He spent 53 weeks in 1970 at Craig Air Force Base in Selma, Alabama.

After serving time in the Air Force, he became a pilot for the Air Force Reserves for 24 years. Kenny was part of civil service at Robins Air Force Base and also worked at Piper and Lockheed in Marietta. He retired from the Reserves in 1998 and Delta in 2013.

It was while at Lockheed that he became project pilot for the HTTB. He was pilot for the HTTB when the aircraft, on March 5, 1985, set the world’s record in short takeoff, time to climb, and landing distance. The landing had to be within 1,500 feet. Other projects where he had leadership roles were in cockpit design for the C-130J and the first to certify a heads-up display as a primary flight display, also for the C-130J.

On Feb. 4, 1993, Kenny was already on another assignment when the HTTB crashed at Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia, killing all seven on board. A malfunction of equipment and the flight crew’s lack of engineering flight test training were found to be contributing factors to the crash. This ended the HTTB program.

The museum actually has three C-130s. We have the C-130E that is next to the South Gate entrance to Robins Air Force Base on the north side of the property. This plane was a part of the evacuation of missionaries in the former Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 1964 when the Congo was seeking independence.

We also have a C-130A that is in Eagle Building on the second floor. This aircraft is for visitors to see inside the fuselage. So it is not the entire plane but enough to give folks a sense of what it’s like inside. It did see action in Vietnam.

The third plane is an AC-130A gunship located in the back of the museum property. The gunship was active in Desert Storm. One particular incident in 1991 occurred along the “Highway of Death” from Kuwait City to Baghdad, Iraq, where 1,400 to 2,000 vehicles were destroyed by 5 AC-130s and other aircraft.

The history of changes to a type of aircraft over the years is interesting. Although the HTTB is gone now, the other versions of the C-130 remain either in use or at museums like ours.

This story was originally published May 8, 2016 at 10:00 PM with the headline "C-130E Hercules a mighty multitask aircraft."