This 1960s-vintage video shows the incredible performance capabilities of the C-130 Hercules. After some footage of C-130s landing on skis in Antarctica and conducting refueling missions, extensive coverage is shown from what the video claims to be the first carrier landings by a Hercules. Lt. James Flatley and his co-pilot Lt. Cmdr. W. Stovall conducted 29 touch and goes, 21 unassisted takeoffs and 21 unarrested landings on the USS Forrestal in a C-130F, which flew the mission with a gross weight as high as 121,000 pounds.
The video describes the intricacies of the teamwork between Flatley and Stovall that enabled the historic flight. While neither one of the pilots “had ever flown a four-engine aircraft before,” according to the video, they were selected for the mission because of their superb carrier operations skills. And the video shows no sign of the pilots’ inexperience with the big tanker.
