sgt hop Loc: baltimore md,now in salisbury md

i was in the af 54-57 never heard that either...i worked on f86d's

FredCM Loc: Central Illinois

The Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson AFB has a C-130 gunship. You do not want it to get mad at you.

Stephan G

"Blackbird" is a notation that I have heard back in 1969 for special missions C-130. I saw one of them fly over me back then and it looked like a blackbird. It was flying extremely low, hugging the tree line. It did have a different engine sound than the regular C-130 I was accustomed to. Every once in a while, I hear the reference made to the C-130 "used by the CIA", in the various movies and TV shows.

clickety

There was an old saying, “Loose lips sink ships”. I believe it’s still valid today. There are so many other topics for conversation especially with internet unknowns.

Stephan G

A special on 'sky-hooks' for Christmas?

marine73 Loc: Modesto California

There is a Air National Guard unit in PA that uses the C-130 as a special mission aircraft and it is painted black. Only those within the units that have these birds call them blackbirds because of the type of missions that they perform.

As a member of the guard unit I performed maintenance on them during my guard weekends (drill Weekends).

You will probably not see them during the day as they perform their missions at night. You will not see them at airshows and if there is one in a museum it will not be the latest model.

These aircraft can be outfitted to perform many different types of clandestine operations and they operate in many parts of the world.

I have probably said to much as members of the unit(s) do not talk about their aircraft or mission(s), that is probably why it is hard to find any reference to them being referred to as blackbirds. I guess I will have to keep my eyes open for the men in the black suits. LOL

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

I was in the USAF from 1958 to 1962 and stationed at Eglin AFB Fla.
Eglin, at that tine was the Air Research and Development Command for the entire USAF.
I got to see many many models of aircraft.
At that time the C-130's were called Hercules and if I remember it was the largest cargo plain the Airforce had.
They also had a Hanger that would hold most any aircraft and they could drop it temperature to 50 below zero or more andheat it as high as 200 degrees or more.

TonyBot

Follow up on sr71 speed - this URL says it all!

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/sr-71-pilot-explains-how-he-survived-to-his-blackbird-disintegration-at-a-speed-of-mach-3-2/

ntonkin Loc: western Upper Peninusla of Michigan

I'm not an Air Force type but I served with Army Special Forces from 1983 to 1994. I never heard any type of MC-130 Combat Talon referred to as a "Blackbird". However, after some research, there was apparently MC-130Es modified in 1965 that were referred to as Blackbirds due to their special paint which was developed by Dupont. I find it interesting that the Air Force would use that nickname again when the SR-71 was designated "Blackbird" a year earlier.

The book about the Son Tay Raid written by the pilot of Cherry One (the lead MC-130E), Bill Guenon, titled: "Secret and Dangerous night of the Son Tay P.O.W. raid" on page 11, in the description of the MC-130E aircraft there is reference to "a special operations Blackbird chock full of electronic wizardry". The bird is again referred to as "Blackbird" again on pages 17 and 20. And, "Blackbird" is always capitalized.

The book written by Terry Buckler (one of the Army raiders) titled: "Who Will Go" includes a memorable moments section in the appendix by numerous participants (including other MC-130E pilots)... which is almost half of the book - - nowhere in this book are the MC-130Es referred to as anything but "Talons". A nickname of "Blackbird" is never mentioned.

In the books I've recently read about Urgent Fury - Grenada and Just Cause - Panama, there is no mention of a nickname of "Blackbirds" for MC130E Combat Talon aircraft. Same with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars which I've read numerous books in the last 10 years.

I would say that "Blackbird" nickname was an unofficial one and used by relatively few people.

Stephan G

There have been all sorts of nicknames used for all sorts of planes. In some cases, the nicknames were adorned with pictures on the fuselages of the planes. As to the mentions in the various books, it depends upon the experience of the authors as to how they called the planes.

The US Air Force got after some language used over the radios during various activities. As did several other Corps in the DoD family.

bonjac Loc: Santa Ynez, CA 93460

I was in the USAF for 22 years and one of my assignments was at Norton AFB. The building I was in was directly under the flight path and quite often, in the evening, we would see black C-130s take off -- no markings. This was during the Vietnam War. Perhaps they were 'Blackbirds'.

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

I have never heard of any aircraft other than the SR-71, being called "Blackbird." A unique aircraft, with unique capabilities, the most prominent was its blinding speed.

However, that's the opinion of an old infantry grunt who knows nothing about aircraft except what he reads, except for a couple who appeared overhead on strafing runs at very opportune times.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Puff was one of the radio call signs of the AC-47s, also the name of one of the planes. The radio call signs in the Qui Nhon Area when we often talked to them to pass on support requests from ground units on the night shift at the Qui Nhon Sub-area HQ Tactical Operations Center were "Spooky and Snoopy". The helicopter gunships which also had mini-guns were from a unit with the call sign Crocodile. When they were close enough to see, those of us on the night shift would often go out to observe them. Unless someone put a spotlight on them, all you saw in the distance was a twisting red snake of tracers going down to the ground. It looked like a solid line, not individual tracers and those mini-guns only had one tracer every 10th bullet, not every 5 like most machine guns.
During the two years I was there in our area, not one single village or unit, no matter how outnumbered, was ever overrun when an AC-47 was in support.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

At the Qui Nhon air field there was a fenced off parking area with some C-47s and other planes that were painted flat black with all markings rather small in glossy black. That parking area was not marked, but it was an open secret that it belonged to the CIA.

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

We called them "Herky birds" but that was all I recall except for the gunships. I never heard of a C-130 being called a blackbird...SR71. And in my four years and three months every base I went to had the Herkies! I flew to Exotic Dancer 2 in one. We loved them because they were solid and never crashed.