Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

The Crewroom for non-FS related stuff, fun and general chat.

Moderators: Guru's, The Ministry

User avatar
John
Concorde
Concorde
Posts: 1751
Joined: 30 Jul 2004, 14:13
Location: Emsworth, Hampshire
Contact:

Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by John »

never give up, never surrender

Image

User avatar
Garry Russell
The Ministry
Posts: 27180
Joined: 29 Jan 2005, 00:53
Location: On the other side of the wall

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Garry Russell »

Bit of a tall order.....5 unserviceable aircraft plus spare of a unique version of the type.#

Surely they are only of use to support the other that were sold??

Can't see an individual or eve a museum taking this on given the difficulty and cost of relocation.

Surprised Cosford or Duxford have not take any, unless I've missed something *-)
Garry

Image

"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."

User avatar
Paul K
Red Arrows
Red Arrows
Posts: 7835
Joined: 12 Jun 2005, 16:41
Location: Norfolk UK

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Paul K »

I notice that one of the Hercs at Cambridge has a Marshall Aerospace logo on the fin and its upperworks ( to borrow a nautical term ) are white. Marshalls has just won a renewed NATO C-130 maintenance contract, and I wonder if they have acquired it as an instructional airframe ? They are expanding and are heavily committed to training and apprenticeships, so maybe! :)

Hot_Charlie
Concorde
Concorde
Posts: 1018
Joined: 30 Jul 2004, 23:51
Location: Bomber County

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Hot_Charlie »

Paul K wrote:I notice that one of the Hercs at Cambridge has a Marshall Aerospace logo on the fin and its upperworks ( to borrow a nautical term ) are white. Marshalls has just won a renewed NATO C-130 maintenance contract, and I wonder if they have acquired it as an instructional airframe ?
That'd be the Herc formerly known as "Snoopy" (XV208 IIRC), the ex-Boscombe met Herc, recently used as the test bed for the A400M powerplant. :)
Charlie

[Intentionally Blank]

User avatar
Chris Trott
Vintage Pair
Vintage Pair
Posts: 2592
Joined: 26 Jun 2004, 05:16
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Contact:

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Chris Trott »

When they say "unserviceable" they're not kidding. Those aircraft have timed-out wing boxes. If you tried to fly them again, you'd risk having the wings fold up on them at a moment's notice. :(

User avatar
Garry Russell
The Ministry
Posts: 27180
Joined: 29 Jan 2005, 00:53
Location: On the other side of the wall

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Garry Russell »

They have spare outer wings, so is the problem with the inners and is that what happened to the fire bomber??
Garry

Image

"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."

User avatar
John
Concorde
Concorde
Posts: 1751
Joined: 30 Jul 2004, 14:13
Location: Emsworth, Hampshire
Contact:

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by John »

Chris Trott wrote:When they say "unserviceable" they're not kidding. Those aircraft have timed-out wing boxes. If you tried to fly them again, you'd risk having the wings fold up on them at a moment's notice. :(
oooohhhhh now it becomes clear!

JR
never give up, never surrender

Image

User avatar
Techy111
Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
Posts: 3319
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 13:51
Location: Coming out of Retirement.

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Techy111 »

Garry Russell wrote:They have spare outer wings, so is the problem with the inners and is that what happened to the fire bomber??
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id= ... 201&rpt=fi

Full report on the incident Garry .

Tony
The last surviving and complete Vickers Vanguard....."Superb"
ImageImageImage

User avatar
Chris Trott
Vintage Pair
Vintage Pair
Posts: 2592
Joined: 26 Jun 2004, 05:16
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Contact:

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Chris Trott »

And if you don't want to read the whole report, the inner wing box is (and has always been) the largest point of stress on a conventionally-built aircraft. This structure endures the most stress. On modern jets, the wing is designed to flex and relieve some of that stress by using the wing to absorb shocks of things like turbulence. However, on older aircraft like the Convairliners, DC-3 thru DC-7, HU-16 Albatross, C-130's, C-141's, C-5's, and even the Belfast, the inner wingbox structure doesn't get this "load relief". With the C-130s and C-5's specifically, this stress has caused cracking. On the C-5, this resulted in the redesign and re-winging program that resulted in the C-5B and serious weight restrictions on the remaining C-5A's. On the C-130, this resulted in the C-130H and C-130J, but they still have a life limit on their wing box before they have to be rebuilt. Lockheed has put together a program to install new wing boxes on some aircraft, but it's a very expensive process to do. As a result, with the C-130J's coming online, most operators are simply retiring the older C-130 models as the wing boxes "time out" or develop uneconomical cracks.

User avatar
Paul K
Red Arrows
Red Arrows
Posts: 7835
Joined: 12 Jun 2005, 16:41
Location: Norfolk UK

Re: Anyone fancy a hercules or 5?

Post by Paul K »

Hot_Charlie wrote:
Paul K wrote:I notice that one of the Hercs at Cambridge has a Marshall Aerospace logo on the fin and its upperworks ( to borrow a nautical term ) are white. Marshalls has just won a renewed NATO C-130 maintenance contract, and I wonder if they have acquired it as an instructional airframe ?
That'd be the Herc formerly known as "Snoopy" (XV208 IIRC), the ex-Boscombe met Herc, recently used as the test bed for the A400M powerplant. :)
Ah, thanks for that Charlie. I remember Snoopy very well. Do you know whether it now belongs to Marshalls, what with the fin logo and all ?

Post Reply