1 - The Black Vault

ROAD TO COMBAT TALON II
Project 46 STARS equipment had to be much
heavier to enable the successful recovery of
1,500-pound loads and required the redesign of
the entire kit. The new kit consisted of larger
and heavier fending lines, a larger recovery balloon
to lift the heavy pickup line, pickup suits,
goggles, new davit assembly, new heavy-duty sky
anchor, heavy-duty recovery winch, and a large
parabomb to retrieve the lift line. Phase II called
for the manufacture of the STARS kits, modifica -
tion of a test aircraft, and flight tests to validate
the new system. During Phase III the system
would be certified for live pickups, a process that
required the successful pickup of a full array of
package weights and personnel combinations.
Phase I began in 1985 and continued into 1986.
The initial design phase was plagued with unforeseen
problems and malfunctions of the new equipment,
but by the summer of 1986, the 8th SOS
was ready to begin limited flight tests. From
February to May 1986, Combat Talon 64-0551
was modified to accommodate the Project 46 system
with a much larger hydraulic system and
with the installation of an auxiliary power unit to
provide power to operate the winch and davit assembly.
Maj David L. “Skip” Davenport was selected
to command the 8th SOS Talon crew for
Project 46. The crew deployed to LAS Ontario and
flew its test missions over the dry lake beds at
Edwards AFB. Phase II flight-testing began in
August of 1986.
A fending line test consisting of two one-man,
three two-man, three four-man, and one six-man
recoveries was flown on 6 August. The one-, two-,
and four-man recoveries went well. The six-man
test was accomplished by using a 50-foot section
of the heavy six-man line woven on to a two-man
pickup line. Instead of cutting the pickup line
with the aircraft’s fending line, the number 4 propeller
cut it. A modification was made in the
knives embedded in the fending lines, and on 9
Photo courtesy of John R. Lewis
The nose section of Combat Talon 64-0551 was reinforced
by unidentified LAS Ontario workers to accommodate
up to 34,000 pounds of stress.
Photo courtesy of John R. Lewis
The C-130H APU replaced the standard GTC on aircraft
64-0551. The modification was required to provide sufficient
electrical capacity for Project 46 equipment.
Photo courtesy of John R. Lewis
A 30-gallons-per-minute hydraulic control panel was in -
stalled on aircraft 64-0551 just forward of the left parachute
door.
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