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Was it possible? Who would believe that the big, four-engine C-130 with its bulky fuselage and 132-foot wing span could land on the deck of a carrier? Not only was it possible, it was done in moderately rough seas 500 miles out in the North Atlantic off the Boston Coast. In so doing, Forrestal and the C-130 Hercules set a record for the largest and heaviest airplane landing on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. A record that holds to this day.
When Lt. James H. Flatley III was told about his new assignment, he thought somebody was pulling his leg. "Operate a C-130 off an aircraft carrier? Somebody's got to be kidding," he said. But they weren't kidding. In fact, the Chief of Naval Operations himself had ordered a feasibility study on operating the big propjet aboard the USS Forrestal (CVA-59). The Navy was trying to find out whether they could use the big Hercules as a "Super-COD" - a "Carrier On-board Delivery" aircraft. If an aircraft carrier is operating in mid-ocean it has no "on-board delivery" system to fall back on and must come nearer to land before taking aboard urgently needed items. The Hercules was stable, reliable, and had a long cruising range and high payload.
The aircraft, a KC-130F refueler transport received modifications to install an improved anti-skid braking system, remove the refueling pods from the wings, and install a smaller nose-landing gear orifice. "The big worry was whether we could meet the maximum sink rate of nine feet per second," Flatley said. As it turned out, the Navy was amazed to find they were able to better this mark by a substantial margin.
The initial sea-born landings on 30 October 1963 were made into a 40-knot wind. The crew successfully negotiated 29 touch-and-go landings, 21 unarrested full stop landings, and 21 unassisted take-offs at gross weights of 85,000 pounds up to 121,000 pounds. At 85,000 pounds, the KC-130F came to a complete stop within 267 feet, about twice the aircraft's wing span! The Navy was delighted to discover that even with the maximum load, the plane used only 745 feet for take-off and 460 feet for landing roll.
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