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Hercules Tanker

Old 10th Nov 2022, 16:23
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VM. great to see the `goofers gallery` full ,as usual,for a 24 Sdn crew demo...
KS,suggest the aircraft is a little `low`,as the hose is not level from the drogue...but hey ,I`m just an old AARI....!
`Scroggs` will be along to comment...
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Old 10th Nov 2022, 16:45
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Originally Posted by sycamore
VM. great to see the `goofers gallery` full ,as usual,for a 24 Sdn crew demo...
I swear the Captain of Henry's Honkies would have given up his own seat for them if he could!
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Old 10th Nov 2022, 16:52
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Duncan,it was H& S that finally saw the demise of the Herc tankers,as the Andover tanks were single skinned,and would be a nightmare if involved in any shooting war,as the system did not allow fuel to be directly offloaded thu` the HDU to a receiver,but transferred up to the main fuel system,not that the rest of the aircraft`s fuel system was any different,ie no self sealing /flame-suppressant system,either...
I took a couple of tankers to the `scrapyard at Marshall`s` `,ostensibly for scrapping,but they were later sold on to the Sri Lankan AF ,and also the Austrian AF..Still in service I think...and they`d been operated at up to 175kMauw......! or thereabouts...

It was never comfortable looking out at the wings/engines`nodding`; one felt that Marshalls should have put a couple of extra `struts/flying wires on the wings....
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Old 11th Nov 2022, 07:13
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IIRC,
the tanker always had 4 internal tanks. It was the PLR 2/4 mods that varied the tanks. As sycamore says they were

routinely operated at 20000 lbs above the normal T/O weight. I would noot have bought an ex RAF tanker but I assume they are still giving good service. View from my 'office'.
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Old 11th Nov 2022, 07:27
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IIRC, that overload was allowed for in the design, but had to be authorised by a VSO, as wartime necessity.
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Old 11th Nov 2022, 07:39
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Originally Posted by ancientaviator62
IIRC,
the tanker always had 4 internal tanks. It was the PLR 2/4 mods that varied the tanks. As sycamore says they were

routinely operated at 20000 lbs above the normal T/O weight. I would noot have bought an ex RAF tanker but I assume they are still giving good service. View from my 'office'.
In the latter days of their lives, fatigue on the Tankers was monitored more precisely than any aircraft in the fleet. My (limited) understanding is that instead of using TOW multiplied by the load factor to produce Fatigue Index, we monitored AUW and recorded it, plus the fatigue meter reading, at every change of flight profile, as a result, there was plenty of life left in the Tankers before they were withdrawn from service,
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Old 11th Nov 2022, 07:53
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As there seems to be a rewed interest in the RAF Hercules tanker I have several pics of them. Most are mine some are not If I put any up then perhaps the owners of the rights can forgive me ! I will put up one a day to gauge the interest.

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Old 11th Nov 2022, 08:12
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Herod,
yes the 175000 lbs overload weight was meant to be an emergency one off. Not the norm as we did with the tankers. I understand that Lockheed were approached for fatigue information about this but refused to help !
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 06:52
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Today's offering.

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Old 12th Nov 2022, 07:18
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Originally Posted by sycamore
I took a couple of tankers to the "scrapyard at Marshall's", ostensibly for scrapping, but they were later sold on to the Sri Lankan AF, and also the Austrian AF. Still in service I think...
The Austrian ones certainly are, and grace UK airspace from time to time:

Making a RIAT debut this year will be the Austrian Air Force with their Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) role demonstration. In an exciting display sequence, this C-130K Hercules will simulate an intruder entering RAF Fairford airspace only to be intercepted by a pair of Austrian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons scrambling from the runway with orders to force the Hercules to land. The Austrian fleet of three C-130K aircraft were all previously flown by the Royal Air Force and are all now based at Hörsching Air Base.
Austrian Hercules
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 07:57
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Dave,
thanks for the information. However with quite a few tanker hours in my log book I would still have opted for other redundant RAF C130k a/c were I to buy one. !
I suppose you can see the sales pitch. One titled lady owner, never raced or rallied and full service history.
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 09:31
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I thought that the ones the Austrians had bought were not ex-tankers. The Sri Lankans had bought a few of them but at least one was scrapped in situ at Marshals in Cambridge, I saw it reduced to nothing over a number of visits to drop off & collect frames. The Austrians had some of the good ones, I remember seeing a couple up in Norway parked near us some years ago (around 2005ish?), they’d upgraded them including INAS etc (no need for the Nav!)

Some years later I was on a land away to Austria in a newer TacAT type and saw one of them in the circuit, the trails of black smoke seemed rather innocuous for this day & age…
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 12:45
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Originally Posted by Ken Scott
I thought that the ones the Austrians had bought were not ex-tankers.
The 3 Austrian C-130K's are:

8T-CA (4198), formerly XV181
8T-CB (4256), formerly XV291
8T-CC (4257), formerly XV292

if that helps in identifying whether any of them are ex-tankers.
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 16:41
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XV292 wasn't a Tanker - it was the aircraft that carried the 25 Years In RAF Service livery in 1992.
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 16:45
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As I thought none of those were tankers. From my logbook I have XV201, 204, 213 & 296 as tankers. I think there were only four.
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 16:57
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XV192 ,XV203 were also tankers,6 altogether...
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 17:59
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Originally Posted by sycamore
Duncan,it was H& S that finally saw the demise of the Herc tankers,as the Andover tanks were single skinned,and would be a nightmare if involved in any shooting war,as the system did not allow fuel to be directly offloaded thu` the HDU to a receiver,but transferred up to the main fuel system,not that the rest of the aircraft`s fuel system was any different,ie no self sealing /flame-suppressant system,either...
I took a couple of tankers to the `scrapyard at Marshall`s` `,ostensibly for scrapping,but they were later sold on to the Sri Lankan AF ,and also the Austrian AF..Still in service I think...and they`d been operated at up to 175kMauw......! or thereabouts...

It was never comfortable looking out at the wings/engines`nodding`; one felt that Marshalls should have put a couple of extra `struts/flying wires on the wings....
Then H&S would have positively sh*t themselves at the sight of the Puma’s ferry tanks.
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 19:56
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Nutty,maybe they`re still `in service`...
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Old 12th Nov 2022, 23:15
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Originally Posted by sycamore
Nutty,maybe they`re still `in service`...
Are they? Dick Langworthy hadn’t got a good word for the spreader plates as he said he designed the originals and the final MOD product didn’t address the problem with them pulling the mounts out of the honeycomb floor panels as they just moved the loading from the tank feet to the revised mounts.

Though in fairness we never had a problem again.



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Last edited by NutLoose; 12th Nov 2022 at 23:56.
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Old 13th Nov 2022, 07:40
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