Stolen Hercules Found?

[Chrisgr31]

I am sure i read about this story on here, but back in the 1960's an American Air Force mechanic stole a Hercules after a few beers in order to fly home to see his wife.

The aircraft crashed in the English Channel and the remains of it have apparently been found

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-46624382

[alangtt]

There was an Interview on Jeremy Vine r2 with the wife of the pilot, it was quite a story from what I remember. Not sure if it's on youtube or something.

[Oilchange]

One could insert a variety of sentences into the blacked out portion of the official report such as

'After firing a short burst of 30mm cannon into the port wing, the engine exploded and'

or

'One short range anti AAM was fired which impacted the number two engine blowing the wing off and'

etc etc

[Cfnteabag]

I wonder if a probably unmarked American dive team might be spotted in and around the channel between now and spring?

[Wozy68]

Cfnteabag said:

I wonder if a probably unmarked American dive team might be spotted in and around the channel between now and spring?

Or British....

[IanH755]

Oilchange said:

One could insert a variety of sentences into the blacked out portion of the official report such as

'After firing a short burst of 30mm cannon into the port wing, the engine exploded and'

or

'One short range anti AAM was fired which impacted the number two engine blowing the wing off and'

etc etc

The BBC story has the following -

"The opinion of the investigating officer is that the aircraft impacted the water with such force, immediately followed by explosion and flash fire, that survival of the occupant is most improbable."

as the bit blacked out which, as it would have the investigators name, would be blacked out for security reasons.

[Oilchange]

Mmmm. So, why delete it? What is at all contentious about those words that they would need to black them out?

They were instructed to print it.

[Tony1963]

Please don’t fall into the conspiracy theory trap. The info that’s redacted probably wouldn’t add much of interest, and there’ll be a good reason or two for not showing it.

[anonymous-user]

The interesting bit is that the Dive Team hint that the airframe is, relatively speaking, fairly intact, ie commensurate with a controlled let down onto calm water, rather than an out-of-control high speed impact. The Herc is, by most reports a fairly tough old bird, and with it's high wing and relatively slow stall speed (especially when empty) i suspect that it is possible to pull off a water ditching and survive..........

[Tony1963]

I really wouldn't try to read too much into what anyone says. The divers themselves won't be telling anyone very much at all, and the BBC are bound to miss details out and get things wrong.

[eharding]

Max_Torque said:

The interesting bit is that the Dive Team hint that the airframe is, relatively speaking, fairly intact, ie commensurate with a controlled let down onto calm water, rather than an out-of-control high speed impact. The Herc is, by most reports a fairly tough old bird, and with it's high wing and relatively slow stall speed (especially when empty) i suspect that it is possible to pull off a water ditching and survive..........

The Colombians ditched one back in the early eighties that floated for 2 days...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_an...

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/...

O/T - nice to see a painting by Waltham-based Yak-55 and Extra 300 driver Simon Cattlin in the BBC article.

[wolfracesonic]

Max_Torque said:

The interesting bit is that the Dive Team hint that the airframe is, relatively speaking, fairly intact, ie commensurate with a controlled let down onto calm water, rather than an out-of-control high speed impact. The Herc is, by most reports a fairly tough old bird, and with it's high wing and relatively slow stall speed (especially when empty) i suspect that it is possible to pull off a water ditching and survive..........

What we need is a C130 expert...Ginetta Girl!

[Oilchange]

in what respect a C130 expert? A pilot might be a good shout but also a Ground Engineer (GE) with a 'major' in airframes.

[Tony1963]

With no real evidence to go on yet, there’s not a lot anyone can say. What is a substantial piece of airframe to a diver at 50 fathoms might look silly on the quayside with the world’s press in attendance.

[eccles]

Oilchange said:

in what respect a C130 expert? A pilot might be a good shout but also a Ground Engineer (GE) with a 'major' in airframes.

I spent quite a few years pulling them to pieces, fixing them, then putting them back together again on big servicings.

[Oilchange]

...then I'd say you're the man.

[IanH755]

Max_Torque said:

The interesting bit is that the Dive Team hint that the airframe is, relatively speaking, fairly intact, ie commensurate with a controlled let down onto calm water, rather than an out-of-control high speed impact. The Herc is, by most reports a fairly tough old bird, and with it's high wing and relatively slow stall speed (especially when empty) i suspect that it is possible to pull off a water ditching and survive..........

Oilchange said:

in what respect a C130 expert? A pilot might be a good shout but also a Ground Engineer (GE) with a 'major' in airframes.

As the post was about landing a C-130 in water and it's survivability I'd say Ginetta, as an ex-herc pilot, would definitely fit the role as an expert and it'd be interesting to hear what she thinks about it.

[Tony1963]

But again, she can only give her opinion based on very few facts. I’d hope she would refrain from trying to guess too much.

[IanH755]

Tony1963 said:

But again, she can only give her opinion based on very few facts. I’d hope she would refrain from trying to guess too much.

I was more thinking about the more general possibility of landing a Herc on water, rather than the specific events in the OP.

[Oilchange]

You can land anything on water, Sully showed this with his Hudson water landing.

A Herc will glide with full flaps to a very slow speed (depending on all up mass) onto the water assuming you take it down to stall speed and then probably float for quite a while, depending on the airframe being intact/holes, plus the fuel tanks being empty and full of air.

Assuming the aircraft ran out of fuel

If intact, it will fill up with water eventually but I suspect the pilot would have ample time to evacuate onto the top of the airframe through one of 3 roof escape hatches, one in the flight deck roof, one more or less between the para doors and one right up in the empennage area (tail area).

He could either activate the wing mounted liferafts (4) using internal or external levers on top of the wings and float away until rescued.

There is no reason to assume the aircraft would burst into flames on impact unless perhaps it was shot down. If it did a Sully, that's more or less what would happen. Not that I have any experience being in a ditching aircraft of course.

Ex Herc Air Loadmaster

Edited by Oilchange on Wednesday 2nd January 14:51