A history of an aviation great, from the pen of a popular and well-established author of aviation history. This new book contains a great many outstanding images, mostly in full colour through the body of the book. As always the author has impeccably researched his subject – Much Recommended.
NAME: C-130 Hercules, a History FILE: R2641 AUTHOR: Martin W Bowman PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 320 PRICE: £25.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Cold War, Middle East Conflicts, Indo-China, Africa, South Atlantic, transport aircraft, assault transports, gunship, special services operations, turbo-prop transport, longevity ISBN: 1-47386-318-X IMAGE: B2641.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/ycat8gee LINKS: DESCRIPTION: A history of an aviation great, from the pen of a popular and well-established author of aviation history. This new book contains a great many outstanding images, mostly in full colour through the body of the book. As always the author has impeccably researched his subject – Much Recommended. There are relatively few aircraft with global recognition and general acceptance as aviation greats. The C-130 is one of those aircraft and it seems destined to go on for ever as the Hercules replacement for many civil and military users is a new Hercules version. The Hercules started on the design board in 1951, with the first prototype flying in 1954. Since then it has been adopted by more than 60 air forces and many civilian operators, in addition to the C-130s operated in Africa and Indo-China by the CIA's 'airlines'. More than 2,100 have been built in over 80 variants and Marshals, at Cambridge, UK, have undertaken major modifications for the RAF, lengthening the aircraft and adding aerial refuelling, which modifications arrived in time to support Operation Corporate where a British Task Force sailed some 8,000 miles to kick Argentine bandits out of the British Falkland Islands. In that operation. The Hercules undertook some very lengthy flights to maintain an air-bridge to sustain the new British garrison in the Falklands until a new airport could be built. The author has done a great job in squeezing a comprehensive review of this incredible aircraft into a single volume with so many first rate colour images. The achievements of this aircraft are incredible and include the Israeli C-130s that flew from Israel to Uganda in an incredibly courageous and successful attempt to rescue skyjacked Israeli passengers held hostage by Palestinian terrorists supported by then President Idi Amin of Uganda. Another incredible Hercules mission, this time by the RCAF resulted in the award of IMO Exceptional Bravery Awards to a team of SAR specialists (one being posthumous) who were flown above the Arctic Circle in a rescue operation to save Inuit walrus hunters. The SAR team parachuted into the Arctic waters to sustain the hunters until an equally daring flight by an AW101 helicopter from Ganda could reach the party and pick up hunters and SAR team, including the body of the SAR specialist who died in the operation. During the period RCAF C-130 aircraft circled the area, providing command and control during the rescue. There are just so many extraordinary stories about the C-130 and its operators. In addition to providing civil and military transport, the C-130 has been developed into a gunship with some very powerful artillery firing through ports cut into the fuselage sides, and been developed into a Special Forces transport and support aircraft that can also be used for combat SAR, recovering downed airmen deep in enemy territory. NASA has used the C-130 for several roles and the aircraft has been developed as a Met Flight aircraft. This book should prove a best seller and serve a very wide readership, including those who might not otherwise purchase an aviation history book.