Envious, oh yes!

[Herr-Berbunch]

This is my mate Greenie's photo. He's a loadmaster on Hercs and this was taken in the Falklands, that's him on the ramp. Just had to share.

[fireftr18]

Cool shot. I'm sure the airplane is a good distance away, but in the pic, it looks as if it's right there.

[HW3]

You could title it "Permission to come aboard Sir?"

Reminded me of the time I went out to do a work order on a Colombian C-130. I went into the cargo hold, and found a French Mirage III in there.

[Oberon]

Very nice, very nice indeed. Any idea which Tiffie that was? Faith, Hope, Charity or Desperation?

[Garion]

It'll never fit in the cargo bay

Cheers

Gary

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Garion

It'll never fit in the cargo bay

Cheers

Gary

LOL

Cool shot

[Stealhead]

Interesting angle I assume the Herc is on the tarmac as no headphones on your mate which would not happen in the silent interior of a Herc in flight especially for a loadmaster.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Very nice, very nice indeed. Any idea which Tiffie that was? Faith, Hope, Charity or Desperation?

I've been through the rest of the album and there are two in there ZJ944 and ZJ950. The pic below is two separate photos from the same album I've added together for brevity in my Imageshack account, if it looks like it's meant to be together - it's not!

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Interesting angle I assume the Herc is on the tarmac as no headphones on your mate which would not happen in the silent interior of a Herc in flight especially for a loadmaster.

No, definitely in the air. Don't know if he was the assigned loadie for that flight or just tagged along - if so then he'd prolly have those little yellow buds in.

[Oberon]

950 might be a new revolved in Tiffie then, since she doesn't seem to have the Maltese cross on. 944 is Faith.

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

I've been through the rest of the album and there are two in there ZJ944 and ZJ950. The pic below is two separate photos from the same album I've added together for brevity in my Imageshack account, if it looks like it's meant to be together - it's not!



No, definitely in the air. Don't know if he was the assigned loadie for that flight or just tagged along - if so then he'd prolly have those little yellow buds in.

Ah yes I did not think of him just being a passenger and wearing ear buds.He must be riding as the active loadmaster he'd need to be able to talk with the rest of the crew over the intercom and then he would have the headset on.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/gallery/ArmedF...3&viewmedia=24
Like the guy on the left in this photo or he might wear the full helmet like this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12258906@N02/2629010584

The USAF C-130s the loadmasters operate the flares and look for SAMs and alert the pilots as to their direction so that they can evade assuming it is the same in the RAF that and just a lot of daily actives requiring coms use.The only real difference between yours and ours is that yours some have the drogue pipe and USAF Hercs do not excluding a handful of special models.Also you guys have some stretched ones the US military never stretched any though some US based civilian herc operators did they call them L-300 of L-400 depending on how much extra space was added.Those where made at the same time that the stretched RAF models where made which was in the mid 70's and they got the major over haul with the "J" model.Actually the most up to date RAF Hercs are better than the USAF ones more powerful and better avionics and some have a fully automated countermeasures system.

The most recent C-130s in the USAF where constructed in 1974 as E models and where upgraded here and there and then finally the USAF,USMC and USCG went with the major "J" upgrade which is a rebuilt "E".Very impressive how a well designed airframe can serve for decades like that shows you how far a good design and modern avionics technology can keep the design viable.You have to look it up but I think that the RAF was a major player in the design and development process of the J program.

[Jimbuna]

The Tiffie always looks at her best when she's tooled up/dressed to kill

[Herr-Berbunch]

Yeah, they normally wear the crappy headsets, and fortunately only a need in certain places to look out for AAA/SAMs, the Falklands not being one of them.

The C-130Js were a bit of a laughing stock when they first arrived (and the C-17s too) as they weren't cleared to do anything - no rough strips, no Khe Sanh approaches, no low level - all they were cleared from was basic transporting trips. Now they can.

Jamie - you've got them the wrong way round, ZJ950 has the Maltese Cross and she's been down south since 2009, ZJ944 was on the same trail.

To double-check, ZJ950 doesn't have the PIRATE pod to the fore-left of the cockpit. The numbers are clear on the originals but in reducing the size it would appear not to be anymore.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Jamie - you've got them the wrong way round, ZJ950 has the Maltese Cross and she's been down south since 2009, ZJ944 was on the same trail.

To double-check, ZJ950 doesn't have the PIRATE pod to the fore-left of the cockpit. The numbers are clear on the originals but in reducing the size it would appear not to be anymore.

Someone must have nabbed 944's Maltese cross since she had one in '09.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/i...the-falklands/

IIRC, out there is ZJ944, ZJ949, ZJ950, and ZK301.

Aha, according to:
http://milky01.co.uk/?page_id=704

44 is Faith, 49 is Hope, 50 is Charity and 301 is Desperation.

There, managed to answer my own question in the end.

Still think that they should all carry Maltese crosses but I bet some official thinks that it's against regs or something and gets them removed from time to time.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Still think that they should all carry Maltese crosses but I bet some official thinks that it's against regs or something and gets them removed from time to time.

They may will do at the moment, these pics are a couple of years old.

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

The C-130Js were a bit of a laughing stock when they first arrived (and the C-17s too) as they weren't cleared to do anything - no rough strips, no Khe Sanh approaches, no low level - all they were cleared from was basic transporting trips. Now they can.

They do that in the USAF new as well with new gear.I can actually understand the no Khe San style runs as those you have to be careful too hard and you will do some serious damage to the gear and maybe even the fuselage.Once in a while they get a funny wind or misjudge and wham you have a plane out of commission for a few months.Over the years I'm sure that a few have also crashed.

Also with the change in engine power they might want to first get the feel for how it flies a bit before doping the tricky stuff.

I understand though that the British military tends to overly cautious with new and expensive gear.

At the same time sometimes new equipment does not work as designed.About 15 years ago the USAF decided that they wanted a new diesel powered ground support generator.So of course someone took the contract and made a sample batch probably a few hundred as my understanding was that several bases got about six of these units in test batches.

Well these generators had lots of problems and never worked properly the electrical was just jacked up.One problem was that they would spike power and send it right down the line and fry what ever they where hooked up to they never tripped off like they where supposed to so after an F-15 and a French Mirage visiting Spanghalem,AB got zapped they banned their use and went back to the same old reliable generators which are still in use.I never liked the new test design anyway because they had poor ergonomics and it was hard to work on them.Luckily they had never gotten past the testing stage so it was not much of a write off and they sold the Cummings engines on the market.another downside was that the Cummings where turbocharged while the "old" and still in use units made by GM Detroit Diesel where supercharged.With a turbo charger after so many hours the bearings wear out much faster than supercharger bearings will wear out(lower RPM).