Lockheed C-130 Hercules (73-3300)

Unusual plane…
Nice shot…
I assume landing gear non-retractable - poor efficiency/range reduced?

They retract the underbelly has cut-outs to accommodate the skids

Beautiful Shot A Murphy...............

Would sure like to see how those skis attach to the struts/landing gear.

SUPER HYDRO. ( J'ai travaillé 3 ans sur SUNDERLAND )

This is actually an LC-130. A C-130 variant. They serve the Arctic and Antarctic programs during their relative summers. The New York Air National Guard (109th Airlift Wing) operate them.

Don't know about the LC-130's but the C-130D's (A model with skis and aux tanks for additional fuel)I flew in the early 1970's had fairings that the skis tucked up against. When you prepare to land on snow, you just lower the wheels and skis as a unit and retract same on liftoff from snow. When preparing to land on hard surface runways, you go "gear down" then "skis up" and hydraulic cylinders move the skis up and the slot on the bottom of the skis allow the wheels (tires) to stick out below the ski surface. The C-130D's I flew in the 70's had about a 20 knot drag penalty as I recall.

The skis retract to flush with fuselage. The wheels can push through the skis for dry surface landings. The hydraulics have the ability to cycle between wheels down and skis down. They use this to unstick the skis when they've been sat on the ice for some time.

How does New York Air National Guard get duty in Antarctic? Do all states take tur?

James Banas, below, has it right! Also,the LC's replace the old D models. I was in the 109th for 26 years and Ops Group Commander & Squadron Commander. Consider the new book about our mission. "SKIBIRDS - Adventures of the Raven Gang". Available on Amazon and B & N.

James Banas, below, has it right! Also,the LC's replace the old D models. I was in the 109th for 26 years and Ops Group Commander & Squadron Commander. Consider the new book about our mission. "SKIBIRDS - Adventures of the Raven Gang". Available on Amazon and B & N

Thank you for the comments everyone. I am guessing the skis do add quite a bit of drag as their flight times from Christchurch to Williams Field last week were a whopping 7 hours 50 mins or close to that. The Italian Air Force C130J that was here recently (with no skis) supplying their base at Terra Nova Bay was averaging around 6 hours 30 mins.

We landed at Williams Field in October of 64 with no skies and no trouble. The only change made to our C130 landing gear was the use of tires that had wires molded in them. Runway was solid packed ice. Interesting note is that Williams Field was named after a Navy grunt who fell through the ice will operating a bulldozer to create the runway.

Cool variant, the C-130 is just an all around badass bird.