Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules
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C-130 Rodeshia
Very much in the learning curve but as real men don't read manuals I'll try this post. Sorry if it doesn't work - I'll read the manual or seek advice.
We should see a photo of one of the three the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe det Hercs
<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=24e9vuu" target="_blank"><img src="http://i58.tinypic.com/24e9vuu.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
We should see a photo of one of the three the Rhodesia/Zimbabwe det Hercs
<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=24e9vuu" target="_blank"><img src="http://i58.tinypic.com/24e9vuu.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
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Nearly there Upgently old chap 
The URL Link is produced in the 2nd Box Down on Tiny entitled, as below, then use the PPRuNe pic Insert Tool ...
IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards
PS ...
Your Image Size needs to be a max of 750 pix wide ... and "mirrored" in this case as the original appears back to front.
Just trying to help out
The URL Link is produced in the 2nd Box Down on Tiny entitled, as below, then use the PPRuNe pic Insert Tool ...
IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards
PS ...
Your Image Size needs to be a max of 750 pix wide ... and "mirrored" in this case as the original appears back to front.
Just trying to help out
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C-130 thread
Thanks for your guidance team both on PM's and on the thread. I will do my best to get on top of the procedure and admit to being a little ashamed to still be faffing about.
Tomorrows another day so will try again and glad you like Albert dressed for Rhodesia as above.
Tomorrows another day so will try again and glad you like Albert dressed for Rhodesia as above.
Upgently,
I heard that a LOX pot got shot on that det, and that sensibly they had been discharged of their contents. Perhaps, if you were involved, you could give us the inside track, so to speak. Don't worry about modern confuserism, many can help with posting the photos, making sure you keep the width to 750 just means that we can still read the posts. More pics mate.
Smudge
I heard that a LOX pot got shot on that det, and that sensibly they had been discharged of their contents. Perhaps, if you were involved, you could give us the inside track, so to speak. Don't worry about modern confuserism, many can help with posting the photos, making sure you keep the width to 750 just means that we can still read the posts. More pics mate.
Smudge
Now for something different. This pic was taken to appear on the 48 Sqn Christmas card. There are however two versions of it. The version on the card is the cleaned up version. It was retouched to remove the oil stains on the pan as visible in the above pic. I (and the rest of the crew) are not in the pic as we are in Port Moresby with a flat tyre. Due to a shortage of wheels back at Changi the spare wheel we normally carried had been removed from the fly away pack !
All those struggling to upload pics, just keep trying. I did and you can see the results.
As Coffman said check the pic is not mirrored ! This pic is from the Lyneham Publicity pack and is most definitely mirrored ! (smudge will you explain how we know). Not quite as bad as the video they used to show to visiting groups. It opened with an arty view of a Herc which was actually a GAF Transall which just happened to be visiting when they shot the video.
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C 130 thread
Hi Smudge
Ref your enquiry on a wee bullet hole in a Rhodesia Det Herc, yep I was part of the crew on that frame. By today's standards this incident is nothing but trivia -Iran - Afganistan etc but at the time it generated a deal of excitement as the Hercules in UK service had lead a charmed life. If I can ever get on top of uploading pics I have one of this frame which from memory I think was XV176.
We were on a VERY low level routing with 30 odd soldiers on board having been briefed and had demonstrated the abilities of the tracking head on ground/air missiles which the rebels held. The demo was simply passing a lit match across the front of the missile head and just watch it respond, gulp, hence low level. A further ground demo was passing the head across the front of the airframe with props turning and this damn thing was responding to the variations in light created by the spinning prop and tip paint job.
The bullet strike was as the result of a burst of AK47 fire (confirmed by Rhodesian Army weapons team). We had chosen to fly a non direct route to our drop off point as intelligence told us of several known treats. The rebels had radar tracked multi barrel weapons so the re-route was essential. Way out in the scrub following a dirt track a couple of shepherds were seen going about their business but alas part of their business was to take out a UK aircraft. The swack as the round hit concentrated the mind but as you correctly say the Lox tanks were purged and whilst the round rattled around a bit I don't recall the techie team getting too excited. Same old story but a fraction of a second later and it would have struck one of the troops who were on the same line down the aircraft side as the strike.
God, sorry war stories but you did ask.
Incidentally the landing strips were generally on narrow open roads which immediately prior to our landings were driven up and down several times by a Rhodesian Army vehicle, the underside shaped to form a "V" thus dissipating any land mine explosion effect. Brave guys.
Ref your enquiry on a wee bullet hole in a Rhodesia Det Herc, yep I was part of the crew on that frame. By today's standards this incident is nothing but trivia -Iran - Afganistan etc but at the time it generated a deal of excitement as the Hercules in UK service had lead a charmed life. If I can ever get on top of uploading pics I have one of this frame which from memory I think was XV176.
We were on a VERY low level routing with 30 odd soldiers on board having been briefed and had demonstrated the abilities of the tracking head on ground/air missiles which the rebels held. The demo was simply passing a lit match across the front of the missile head and just watch it respond, gulp, hence low level. A further ground demo was passing the head across the front of the airframe with props turning and this damn thing was responding to the variations in light created by the spinning prop and tip paint job.
The bullet strike was as the result of a burst of AK47 fire (confirmed by Rhodesian Army weapons team). We had chosen to fly a non direct route to our drop off point as intelligence told us of several known treats. The rebels had radar tracked multi barrel weapons so the re-route was essential. Way out in the scrub following a dirt track a couple of shepherds were seen going about their business but alas part of their business was to take out a UK aircraft. The swack as the round hit concentrated the mind but as you correctly say the Lox tanks were purged and whilst the round rattled around a bit I don't recall the techie team getting too excited. Same old story but a fraction of a second later and it would have struck one of the troops who were on the same line down the aircraft side as the strike.
God, sorry war stories but you did ask.
Incidentally the landing strips were generally on narrow open roads which immediately prior to our landings were driven up and down several times by a Rhodesian Army vehicle, the underside shaped to form a "V" thus dissipating any land mine explosion effect. Brave guys.
Coffman,
yes and this pic like the video I mentioned was presumably passed as fit for public consumption by the PR mafia, The probe was affixed to the co pilots side of the a/c and the observation dome (not astrodome) replaced the flight deck escape hatch.
yes and this pic like the video I mentioned was presumably passed as fit for public consumption by the PR mafia, The probe was affixed to the co pilots side of the a/c and the observation dome (not astrodome) replaced the flight deck escape hatch.
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C130 Thread
I'm so happy I could spit As you can see all your efforts worked
Thanks for the guidance everybody. I have a few pics that you may well not have seen so periodically I will filter them into the thread. Shout if you get fed up.
Dear old Changi base showing a gathering of 48 Sqn frames.
Thanks for the guidance everybody. I have a few pics that you may well not have seen so periodically I will filter them into the thread. Shout if you get fed up.
Dear old Changi base showing a gathering of 48 Sqn frames.
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Ah, the 48 Sqn pan at Changi, as a young SAC doing guard on the pan, I was sternly admonished by a passing pilot for referring to "these new C130's", "Young man in the Royal Air Force we give our aeroplanes names, and that is a Hercules"
Thats me told then.
PM
Thats me told then.
PM
Upgently,
Once again you dangle the beauty of the Light Stone/Dark Earth finish, was Albert ever smarter ? Thanks for the gen on the LOX pot in Rhodesia. I offer this photograph, and a small story of "small arms" fire from my own experience.
The photograph(s) were taken on a trip during the Sarajevo Airlift, and feature a French Foreign Legion chap having a nose around, and a shot prior to take off outbound, from my station in the RH para door.
We approached Sarajevo, as normal, at a decent altitude, with the intention to do a Khe San approach to land. At the time, because of small arms fire, the approach was from one direction only, take off went out directly the way you came in. As the Captain pulled the power levers back and pushed the nose down, there was a flash from the ground. To this day I'm convinced I watched "something" go past about 15 feet away from the para door, followed by a clearly audible explosion and metallic rain hitting topside. We landed, in the process discharging several flare and chaff rounds, which set fire to the grass in the undershoot, and taxied in. In those days the RAF crews were the only ones to shut down for offloading, and, as the GE, I was required to do an external inspection whilst the offload was under way. The Captain prevented a topside check as it was known that snipers were active from directly across the runway. Having done as good a check as I could, and seeing no visible damage, I did note a large ring of red smoke, high above the approach end of the runway. I took the snap of the Foreign Legionnaire as we waited to restart and depart. He certainly looked a friendly chap. I think we all realised that on the way in someone had had a pot at us, and we now had to fly over them again, in the climb out. Sixpence/Halfcrown was the order of the day until we reached around 15K.
We were later told that we had been quite lucky. Someone had analysed what happened and decided that whoever took the shot was using a wire guided, anti tank weapon, As he launched, our Captain entered the Khe San approach, what prevented the hit was he could not make the missile track down as fast as Albert was descending. That's the story I got at the time, the truth of the matter always lay above my pay grade. I do know that the airlift was stopped for a week as a direct result and we took the first load in on the day it resumed.
I just read someone suggest "pull up a sandbag" is OK, thought I would relate one of my own experiences, as a non aircrew team member and hope it meets the criteria. Perhaps, relating the fact that Albert, and its crews, have certainly been in harms way, throughout its service in the RAF is an appropriate tribute to the Crews, and the aircraft. Keep posting the pictures Gentlemen, for those of us old enough, that paint scheme really does bring on some very, happy memories.
Smudge
Once again you dangle the beauty of the Light Stone/Dark Earth finish, was Albert ever smarter ? Thanks for the gen on the LOX pot in Rhodesia. I offer this photograph, and a small story of "small arms" fire from my own experience.
The photograph(s) were taken on a trip during the Sarajevo Airlift, and feature a French Foreign Legion chap having a nose around, and a shot prior to take off outbound, from my station in the RH para door.
We approached Sarajevo, as normal, at a decent altitude, with the intention to do a Khe San approach to land. At the time, because of small arms fire, the approach was from one direction only, take off went out directly the way you came in. As the Captain pulled the power levers back and pushed the nose down, there was a flash from the ground. To this day I'm convinced I watched "something" go past about 15 feet away from the para door, followed by a clearly audible explosion and metallic rain hitting topside. We landed, in the process discharging several flare and chaff rounds, which set fire to the grass in the undershoot, and taxied in. In those days the RAF crews were the only ones to shut down for offloading, and, as the GE, I was required to do an external inspection whilst the offload was under way. The Captain prevented a topside check as it was known that snipers were active from directly across the runway. Having done as good a check as I could, and seeing no visible damage, I did note a large ring of red smoke, high above the approach end of the runway. I took the snap of the Foreign Legionnaire as we waited to restart and depart. He certainly looked a friendly chap. I think we all realised that on the way in someone had had a pot at us, and we now had to fly over them again, in the climb out. Sixpence/Halfcrown was the order of the day until we reached around 15K.
We were later told that we had been quite lucky. Someone had analysed what happened and decided that whoever took the shot was using a wire guided, anti tank weapon, As he launched, our Captain entered the Khe San approach, what prevented the hit was he could not make the missile track down as fast as Albert was descending. That's the story I got at the time, the truth of the matter always lay above my pay grade. I do know that the airlift was stopped for a week as a direct result and we took the first load in on the day it resumed.
I just read someone suggest "pull up a sandbag" is OK, thought I would relate one of my own experiences, as a non aircrew team member and hope it meets the criteria. Perhaps, relating the fact that Albert, and its crews, have certainly been in harms way, throughout its service in the RAF is an appropriate tribute to the Crews, and the aircraft. Keep posting the pictures Gentlemen, for those of us old enough, that paint scheme really does bring on some very, happy memories.
Smudge
AA62, #150
Apart from the obvious reversal of probe and cupola (I'm sure I know the bloke in there), I offer another clue that may not be so obvious. If you look at the rear escape hatch, its a nice dark green (obviously on the wrong side of the fin). Now, I'm not sure if its well known, but the SF Herks, deployed in support of SF operations in GW1, were painted pink, by the ground crews, and aircrews, by hand, in theatre. When they applied the paint, their access "upstairs" was through that hatch, and consequently missed the lick of paint the rest of the airframe got. So, it stands out like the canines cojones, the hatch is on the wrong side. To be pedantic, the Cargo pack NACA duct (hacker duct) is also on the wrong side.
Smudge
Apart from the obvious reversal of probe and cupola (I'm sure I know the bloke in there), I offer another clue that may not be so obvious. If you look at the rear escape hatch, its a nice dark green (obviously on the wrong side of the fin). Now, I'm not sure if its well known, but the SF Herks, deployed in support of SF operations in GW1, were painted pink, by the ground crews, and aircrews, by hand, in theatre. When they applied the paint, their access "upstairs" was through that hatch, and consequently missed the lick of paint the rest of the airframe got. So, it stands out like the canines cojones, the hatch is on the wrong side. To be pedantic, the Cargo pack NACA duct (hacker duct) is also on the wrong side.
Smudge
Last edited by smujsmith; 29th May 2014 at 22:13.