Loss Statistics
If the Vietnam War is proscribed by Hercules losses, it lasted ten years, and four days. The 817th Troop Carrier Squadron/6315th Operations Group crew of C-130A 57-0475, c/n 3182, a Blind Bat flareship, crashed into high ground at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, April 24, 1965 during a go-around in bad weather with a heavy load, combined with two lost engines, low fuel, making the unfortunate crew the first Hercules loss in Southeast Asia. The last U.S. military C-130 loss was the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing C-130E 72-1297, c/n 4519, hit by advancing NVA rocket fire on April 28, 1975, forcing Tan Son Nhut Air Base to close to fixed wing evacuation of the collapsing South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. Although three U.S. Navy Hercules were attrited during the period of the conflict in Southeast Asia, none were in theater, nor had anything to do with combat operations or support, therefore, they do not appear in Vietnam loss tables. One Navy-operated C-130 was lost in SEA but it was on loan from a USAF unit.
Since Hercules attrition began in 1958, there have been three years in which only one hull was lost: 1959, 1963, and 1995.
There have been several mid-air collisions involving Hercules, but all involved other military aircraft – there has never been a Hercules-civilian mid-air. There have been five cases of Hercules fratricide, four on the ground, July 1, 1965, April 11, 1968, February 1, 1979, and September 10, 1998, and one mid-air on March 29, 1985.
Information about Hercules crash circumstances are most vague for the Sudan – four unidentified accidents, and Iran – three unidentified crashes, and one conjectural.
In addition to Air America operations, Southern Air Transport was also a CIA proprietary company.
Read more about this topic: List Of C-130 Hercules Crashes
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