64-0568 MC-130E Combat The Last Flight
Photographed Wednesday, May 01, 2013, 11:56: AM.
© Paul Larson 2014 All rights reserved.
The MC-130E was the first Combat Talon and was developed to support clandestine special operations missions during the Vietnam War. Eighteen were created by modifying C-130E transports, and four lost through attrition, but the remainder continue in service more than four decades after their initial modification.
Five Combat Talons of the 8th Special Operations Squadron participated in Operation Urgent Fury, the United States invasion of Grenada between October 25 and 31, 1983
Talon 64-0568, flown as Foxtrot 35 by 8th SOS commander Lt Col (later Maj Gen) James L. Hobson[58] and with the commander of the Twenty-Third Air Force, Maj Gen William J. Mall, Jr., aboard as a passenger, combat-dropped the headquarters section of the 1st Ranger Battalion on the airport, despite being targeted by a searchlight and under heavy AAA fire. Two Spectre gunships suppressed the AAA so that the other Combat Talons and the SOLL C-130s could complete the parachute drop of the Ranger battalion, with the only damage to the Talons being three hits by small arms fire to 64-0572.[59] For his actions, Hobson was awarded the MacKay Trophy in 1984.
64-0568 MC-130E Combat The Last Flight
Photographed Wednesday, May 01, 2013, 11:56: AM.
© Paul Larson 2014 All rights reserved.
The MC-130E was the first Combat Talon and was developed to support clandestine special operations missions during the Vietnam War. Eighteen were created by modifying C-130E transports, and four lost through attrition, but the remainder continue in service more than four decades after their initial modification.
Five Combat Talons of the 8th Special Operations Squadron participated in Operation Urgent Fury, the United States invasion of Grenada between October 25 and 31, 1983
Talon 64-0568, flown as Foxtrot 35 by 8th SOS commander Lt Col (later Maj Gen) James L. Hobson[58] and with the commander of the Twenty-Third Air Force, Maj Gen William J. Mall, Jr., aboard as a passenger, combat-dropped the headquarters section of the 1st Ranger Battalion on the airport, despite being targeted by a searchlight and under heavy AAA fire. Two Spectre gunships suppressed the AAA so that the other Combat Talons and the SOLL C-130s could complete the parachute drop of the Ranger battalion, with the only damage to the Talons being three hits by small arms fire to 64-0572.[59] For his actions, Hobson was awarded the MacKay Trophy in 1984.