Venerable!

This is coolbert: Here is a web site that is a testimonial to the C-130 "Hercules".

Has a lot of info on the AC-130 gunships and the other gunships that comprise the family.

"This year, the aircraft that is arguably the greatest plane to fly in American military service celebrates 50 years of continuous production, a remarkable testimony to its hardy usefulness."

[The C-130 of course].

"'I am convinced that the C-130 is one of the greatest aircraft ever built,' said Air Force Gen. John W. Handy, chief of the U.S. Transportation Command."

[NO! Perhaps the greatest!!]

"Its production has spanned essentially half the history of powered flight."

"it can zip along at almost 400 mph."

[there was even that experimental version with rocket assisted Short-Take-Off-Landing [STOL]].

"And the plane has landed nimbly - without the aid of an arresting tailhook to stop it - on one of the Navy's aircraft carriers."

"During the Vietnam War, a Coast Guard C-130 pilot even outmaneuvered a North Vietnamese MiG-21, luring it into apparently crashing in a canyon as the Hercules evaded the little fighter's cannon fire."

[Whoa boy!! This is a first for me. Never heard of this before?? Does this count as a shoot-down??]

"The C-130 is only the second airplane designed from the ground up as a military cargo airplane," . . . "They got it about just right."

[NO!! They GOT it right. NOT just about!! They DID!!]

"'if you're going to modify an aircraft, the C-130 is a lot cheaper' to redesign for those odd little special missions."

[yes, and you can redesign and refit and develop new equipment that will make the C-130 and all it's morphed versions THAT MUCH better for a LOT lesser cost than designing from scratch a new aircraft that MAY NOT WORK as well!!]

Oldah be bettah!!

coolbert.