The Air Force in the Vietnam War - Air Force Association

The Versatile Hercules
I
n Vietnam, the C-130 Hercules
proved that there wasn’t much it
couldn’t do. It was a rugged, four-engine
turboprop, originally designed as
an assault transport. If need be, it could
take off and land from airstrips that were
short and rough.
From 1965 on, the C-130 was the Air
Force’s main tactical airlifter in Southeast
Asia. It carried cargo on pallets, heavy
equipment, passengers, paratroopers, and
aeromedical evacuation patients. And
that was just the beginning of it.
The Air Force’s best gunship was the
AC-130, a Hercules fitted out with
two 20 mm Gatling guns and two 40
mm Bofors guns whose fire could be
precisely focused on a target while the
aircraft flew a pylon turn orbit above. It
was deadly against truck convoys on the
Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Other C-130s, known as “Blind Bats,”
worked the Trail, too, finding targets at
night and dropping flares to illuminate
them for strike aircraft. The Blind
Bats worked with an on-scene Airborne
Command and Control Center
aircraft, which was—what else?—a
C-130 operating in yet another role. In
Operation Commando Vault in 1969,
C-130s dropped bombs, rolling huge
15,000 pound explosives out the back
to clear landing zones for the Army and
the Marines. HC-130 Combat Shadows
flew aerial refueling missions for rescue
helicopters.
The classic image of C-130s in Vietnam
is from Khe Sanh, where Air Force
airflift sustained the Marine Garrison
through a 77-day siege. When landing
became difficult because of the hostile
fire, the C-130s delivered cargo by LA-
PES (low-altitude parachute extraction
system) drop, with parachutes pulling
the cargo out the back door as the airplane
made a very low pass above the
field.
Many airmen and soldiers may remember
the C-130 best for its regular shuttle
circuit of the main bases in Southeast
Asia. It was the airplane that brought
them to their upcountry bases to begin
their tours and the one that picked them
up a year later when it was time to go
home.
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