1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
the aircraft. In addition to providing a visual
heading reference, each C-12 compass furnished
heading information to other aircraft navigational
systems. Operating controls for the number 1 and
number 2 compass systems were located on the
digital controller for each system. The digital controllers
were located on the navigator’s instrument
panel. Each system was capable of operating
in one or two modes. In the magnetic heading
mode, used in latitudes where no distortion of
earth’s magnetic field was encountered, the directional
gyro in the system was slaved to earth’s
magnetic field and the indicators displayed magnetic
heading of the aircraft. In the directional
gyro mode, used in latitudes where the magnetic
meridian was distorted or weak, the system gyro
acted as a directional gyro and maintained the
position manually selected by the navigator. The
indicators displayed the manually established
heading. 22
Instrumentation on the pilot and copilot instrument
panels included an attitude direction indica -
tor (ADI), horizontal situation indicator (HSI),
bearing-distance-heading indicator (BDHI), and
radio magnetic indicator (RMI). The aircraft was
also equipped with both a pressure altimeter and
a radar altimeter. Radios included two ultrahigh
frequency (UHF), one very high frequency (HF),
two high frequency, and two automatic direction
finding sets. 23 The system was considered the
state of the art when it was introduced in 1962.
There were many additional systems that
made up the complex C-130E Lockheed Hercules
aircraft. The company continued to improve the
airplane through follow-on models, but most of
the basic C-130 systems found on the early E
aircraft continued in production over the next
three decades.
The C-130E(I)
Combat Talon Aircraft
On 22 July 1965 the USAF took delivery of the
first two C-130E aircraft that were slated to be
modified into Combat Talons. Aircraft 64-0551
and 64-0555 were assigned to the 464th Troop
Carrier Wing at Pope AFB, North Carolina. The
remaining 12 aircraft were delivered to the
USAF during the following five months, with
the last aircraft (64-0568) being temporarily assigned
to the 4442d Combat Crew Training
Wing on 17 December 1965. Earlier in the
month, on 3 December, aircraft 64-0523 became
the first aircraft to enter STARS modification at
the Lockheed-Georgia facility. 24 The Fulton
STARS was the most visible of the Combat
Talon modifications, and the capability would
become the centerpiece for most of the Combat
Talon community for the next 30 years.
The Fulton Surface-to-Air
Recovery System
During the 1920s, a mail pickup system was
invented by Lytle S. Brown and was employed to
retrieve outgoing mail in remote areas where
overland pickup was impractical. Using Brown’s
invention, All American Aviation developed a
modified pickup system in the 1930s that consisted
of two steel poles, set 54 feet apart, with a
transfer line swung between them. A pickup aircraft
would approach the cable at 90 miles per
hour, with a 50-foot steel pickup cable trailing
behind. Just before impact with the transfer ca ble,
the pickup pilot would pull the nose of the aircraft
up and engage the transfer cable with a fourpronged
grapple anchored to the end of the pickup
cable. A flight mechanic stationed in the fuselage
of the aircraft then used a winch to reel the package
on board. 25 The system was operational by
1941 at the outbreak of World War II.
The All American System—
Forerunner to STARS
As the war progressed and the Allies prepared
for the eventual invasion of Europe, it became apparent
that a capability was needed to extract personnel
who had previously parachuted behind enemy
lines. Literally thousands of paratroopers were
dropped by Carpetbagger B-24 and B-17 aircraft,
along with RAF Halifaxes, in the months before and
immediately after the Normandy invasion. The primary
option for their recovery was a risky overland
trek through enemy-held territory followed by an
equally risky linkup with Allied forces in the field.
Hoping to find their exfiltration solution in the All
American Aviation system, the British began testing
the capability early in the war. 26
In July 1943 the USAAF validated the need for
the extraction of downed airmen from behind enemy
lines and began an operational test of the All American
Aviation system. Initial test produced unsatisfactory
results for personnel pickups, with instrumentation
recording more than 17 g’s (acceleration
of gravity) at initial contact with the pickup line.
Modifications were made in the parachute harness
and the transfer line, thus reducing the initial
force on the pick-up package to 7 g’s. On 5
September 1943, the first volunteer paratrooper,
24