"Jcarr" (jcarr)
08/25/2015 at 12:10 • Filed to: Planelopnik
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"Jcarr" (jcarr)
08/25/2015 at 12:10 • Filed to: Planelopnik | 10
| 8 |
From 1957 to 1960 an Air Force group that called themselves The Four Horsemen flew an aerobatic routine with 4 Lockheed C-130A Hercules transports.
Lockheed’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! have excellent write-ups on the history of the group. Here is an excerpt from Code One describing a typical Horsemen show:
To start the demonstration, the pilots, wearing scarves and a distinctive shoulder patch featuring the silhouette of a horse head with the Roman numeral IV in its neck, taxied out and lined up on the runway in a diamond formation.
Normally, Moore, whom Mills described as “a very smooth pilot,” flew lead. Akin flew right wing, which the Horsemen called the number two position. Hatfield flew the slot, or number four position. Chaney, the team leader who had been the ferry pilot when the first operational C-130 was delivered from the then-Lockheed Georgia Company facility in Marietta, Georgia, flew the left wing, or number three position. “The left wing was the hardest position to fly,” said Hatfield. “The pilot had to look across the flight deck and out the right window the whole show to stay in position.”
The Four Horsemen would take off nearly simultaneously in about 1,500 feet. The slot aircraft, which was getting extra lift from the leader’s propwash, actually got airborne first, followed by the other three aircraft. Quickly retracting the landing gear, the four pilots would be in tight formation at 1,500 feet altitude over the end of the runway, climbing at 4,000 feet per minute.
Next, the team made a left banking turn, repositioned, and flew in a close line astern, slightly stacked trail formation down the show line. That arrow formation was followed by the arrowhead formation, where lead and number two remained in trail formation, while the number three aircraft moved to the left wing of number two, and the slot moved off two’s right wing. After repositioning, the group made a flyby in the diamond formation. The four pilots then transitioned to an echelon right formation to turn.
Coming back toward the crowd at approximately 200 feet above the runway in the diamond, the team performed the bomb burst—what they called the Horsemen Burst—with the lead pilot pulling up and making a forty-five degree left climbing turn, while the right wing pulled up and made a ninety-degree right climbing turn. Left wing pulled up and turned ninety degrees to the left, while the slot climbed and made a forty-five degree turn to the right. After completing their turns, the pilots leveled off and returned to the original heading.
The team rejoined in the diamond, and then went to an extended trail formation. With sufficient spacing between the C-130s, the four pilots simultaneously broke to the left for landing. The Horsemen then touched down on alternate sides of the runway.
Unfortunately due to a number of reasons, the team was disbanded in 1960 and performances ceased.
L-R: Horsemen Gene Chaney, James Akin, David Moore, and Bill Hatfield.
Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig
> Jcarr
08/25/2015 at 12:20 |
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That would have been awesome to see live. Four Fat Alberts thundering over in formation.
Jonathan Harper
> Jcarr
08/25/2015 at 12:55 |
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Well that is very fucking cool.
X37.9XXS
> Jcarr
08/25/2015 at 13:03 |
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They probably disbanded due to ACL injuries and shin splints
HammerheadFistpunch
> Jcarr
08/25/2015 at 15:45 |
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Thats the best thing I ever saw.
orcim
> Jcarr
08/26/2015 at 03:14 |
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Had one of these models hanging in my bedroom from the 60’s to the 70’s. C5-Hercules. Memorized all the stats, then.
But I *never* knew there was an aerobatic team. *swoons*
ttyymmnn
> Jcarr
08/28/2015 at 16:31 |
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You posted this on my boys’ first day of school so I missed it. They should do this again, but with a quartet of C-130Js. That would be something to see.
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Jcarr
> ttyymmnn
08/28/2015 at 16:38 |
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I’ve seen quite a few performances involving just about every kind of American military and private aircraft over the years and the C-130 is easily near the top of the list.
It’s been a number of years since I’ve seen a demo, but as awesome as a 1-ship show is, I can’t imagine how awesome a multi-ship show with modern Hercs would be.
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ttyymmnn
> Jcarr
08/28/2015 at 16:46 |
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I’m glad I got to see Fat Albert do a RATO a few years ago. That’s somehting that will not be done again.