C-130 Hercules US Air Force Tactical Transport Aircraft Patch

The C-130 Hercules first flew on 23 August 1954, when the YC-130 prototype took off from Lockheed's plant in Burbank, California, and flew to Edwards Air Force Base. Seventy years later it was still in production, the longest continuously produced military aircraft in the world. It was built to haul troops and cargo into short, rough strips that bigger transports could not use. Production moved to Marietta, Georgia, where more than 2,300 were built through 2009. Crews from the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard have flown it, and the type serves in more than 60 nations.

The C-130A entered Air Force service in December 1956, with the first production aircraft going to the 463rd Troop Carrier Wing at Ardmore AFB, Oklahoma, and the 314th Troop Carrier Wing at Sewart AFB, Tennessee. Allison T56 turboprops powered it from the A model through the H, and the C-130B brought four-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers that stayed standard until the C-130J went to six blades. The airframe grew into a whole family: the AC-130 gunship, the MC-130 Combat Talon for special operations, the EC-130 Commando Solo and Compass Call, the WC-130 Hurricane Hunter, the HC-130 for long-range search and rescue, the Marine Corps KC-130 tanker and the ski-equipped LC-130 for the poles. In October and November 1963 Lt. James H. Flatley III landed a Marine KC-130F aboard USS Forrestal (CV-59), making 21 unarrested full-stop landings and 21 unassisted takeoffs.

The patch is a 4 inch circle with a black merrowed edge around a white field. C-130 HERCULES arches across the top in dark navy serif letters. Inside, an American flag fills the center circle, stars at upper left and red and white stripes running down. A gray-blue Herc crosses the flag head-on at an angle, four engines turning, high wing spread wide and the tall tail rising behind. It reads clearly from across a room, and the flag behind the airplane says whose airlift this is.

Ask anyone who rode in the back of one and they will tell you about the noise, the web seats and the combat offload. The Herc has carried paratroopers, pallets, vehicles and wounded, fought fires, tracked hurricanes and landed on Antarctic ice. Loadmasters, flight engineers, navigators, pilots and maintainers have built whole careers around it. It flew in Vietnam, the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is still flying. For an airlifter, this airplane is the job.

Iron it onto a flight jacket or sew it to a vest for a squadron reunion, or mount it in a shadow box with your wing patch and a set of aircrew wings. It makes a good gift for a loadmaster, a crew chief or a son headed to his first C-130 unit. The iron-on backing holds on its own, and a few stitches around the merrowed edge make it permanent. Four engines, one flag, and a lot of miles.