AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020 - 72

End of the line
Veteran Air Force C-130 makes final trip-by road
You seldom hear the command "Pull chocks"
on a city street, miles from the nearest airport.
But the phrase was shouted several times
during the early morning hours of Saturday,
March 14, as a retired U.S. Air Force C-130H
Hercules was pulled-on its own wheels-
some 7.5 miles around Frederick, Maryland, to
its final assignment.
The four-engine Air Force turboprop
transport, built in 1974, was flown into Frederick Municipal Airport in September 2019.
In October the engines and propellers were
removed and shipped to an Air Force depot.
It languished until disassembly of the fuselage began in mid-February. The outer wing
sections, vertical and horizontal stabilizers,
and other parts were removed to make the
Hercules both smaller and lighter for its final
journey. The aircraft, with a maximum takeoff
weight of 155,000 pounds, still weighed more
than 50,000 pounds for the move.
Finally, it was towed in the middle of the
night to the Air Force Medical Evaluation
Support Activity (AFMESA), which operates a testing facility on Fort Detrick-a
U.S. Army Medical Command garrison that
serves as a center for biological research.
AFMESA's mission, testing medical technology and devices to ensure they meet the
military's needs and can survive the rigors
of deployment, is unique within the U.S.
military. The AFMESA testing site already
includes a complete 10-bed Expeditionary
Medical Support Hospital, a 44,000-squarefoot test pad, and other testing facilities
that simulate many of the conditions medical airmen experience in the field.
At AFMESA the Hercules will be reassembled and used to test equipment and
procedures. A speaker system will be installed
to replicate the sounds usually experienced in
a C-130, both in flight and on the ground.
The move began at 2 a.m., following a
circuitous route that had been carefully evaluated for sufficient clearance. It was unusual
because the airplane was being moved on its
own wheels, explained Charles White of moving contractor Whites Aircraft Salvage and
Parts. He has moved and dismantled many
large aircraft, including more than 40 C-130s,
some of which have been repurposed to train
paratroopers or loadmasters. "It's good to
reuse them," he said, adding that in this case
the relatively short distance and clearance
issues made towing the Hercules practical.
The aircraft traveled as fast as 10 to 20
mph on open stretches of road but a very
tight, descending exit ramp from U.S. 15 South
to Rosemont Avenue-identified early on as
the most challenging segment of the journey

72 | AOPA PILOT June 2020

for the 97-foot, 9-inch-long fuselage-took an
hour and a half to negotiate. A second truck was
connected to the rear of the Hercules with safety
chains to provide stopping power, and White
had two people in the aircraft itself-one person
in the pilot's seat to apply the brakes if necessary, and an observer riding in the roof hatch to
monitor clearances. Only enough hydraulic pressure remained in the system to apply the brakes
six times, White said. Especially on the steep
grade, chocks were used to ensure the Hercules
didn't move unintentionally.
Almost 3.5 hours after leaving the airport,
the caravan reached the gate to Fort Detrick's
Area B, where AFMESA is located. There, the
movers reconfigured to pull the Hercules backwards onto the base, so it could more easily be
positioned in its final parking spot. To steer the
hulking airplane through the narrow gate, crew
manhandled the heavy towbar. The transport
rolled onto the Army installation at 6:27 a.m.
The C-130H logged more than 24,000 flight
hours. It entered service with the 463rd Tactical
Airlift Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, said
retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Evelio Gonzalez of
Bolivia, North Carolina, who flew 74-1660 several
times. The first two flights, as co-pilot, were
"locals" from Dyess. "Back then a local was a
five-hour mission, where we would fly three lowlevel routes, in formation, to an airdrop followed
by 30 to 45 minutes of short-field landings."
Later, in early 1984, Gonzalez flew the ship
as aircraft commander in Europe. "My squadron was at RAF Mildenhall as part of a 65-day
rotation. Squadrons would go on rotation about
every 14 months."
Information available online revealed that the
Hercules also was assigned to Yokota Air Base
in Japan, and that its duties took it to locations
including Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in
Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Ben Gurion Airport near
Lod, Israel.
It most recently served with the Ohio Air
National Guard, based at Mansfield Lahm
Regional Airport in Mansfield, Ohio. It was
named Spirit of Clear Fork Valley, honoring an
area of southern Richland County, Ohio, that is
home to a number of members of its previous
unit, the 179th Airlift Wing.
However, it's not the first C-130 to wear that
name. On October 16, 2014, a Hercules with
serial number 81-0629 was dedicated Spirit of
Clear Fork Valley. By summer 2019, however, that
aircraft had been transferred to the 189th Airlift
Wing in Little Rock, Arkansas. The aircraft delivered to Maryland was 74-1660-which carried
in its cockpit a set of window covers made by
Bruce's Custom Covers embroidered with ship
number 629, clearly a holdover from the first
aircraft to carry that name.
-MC

AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020

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