Great shots of a classic aeroplane...

rwb2112... thanks for sharing this superb photo capture with us!!!

Yours is the second photo of this specific C-130 Hercules in the FA "collection".

Gary Schenauer's recent and excellent photo of this USAF MC-130P Combat Shadow gives more information regarding USAF s/n 69-5828...

http://flightaware.com/photos/view/368798-1c145c81a6233056ae39155afcf0ff672d395b37/aircraft/695828/sort/votes/page/1

Thanks Chris & Cliff. Glad I caught this one after reading all the info Gary provided.

The last work of Hercules.

Just one more of the great military work horses.

a wonderful shot

What tanker or transport aircraft in use by USAF today has four props and a high T tail?

george washington - none do in current USAF inventory. You might thinking of the Airbus A400M Atlas, which has four turboprops and a high "T" tail configuration. It is not in USAF service or use.

Thanks Cliff. It was faraway and I may have been mistaken about the props. Otherwise resembled a C-17. We don't often see them on the northern CA coast.

George... you are welcome and there is the DeHavilland Canada DHC-7 (Dash 7) in U.S. Army service as the O-5A and variants with 4 turboprops and a "T" tail design, but I doubt that's what you were looking at.

Recently, one example of the Airbus A400M from the French Armée de l'Air has visited the U.S.A. However, I'm not sure if it traveled as far west as California...

http://flightaware.com/photos/view/1944458-8def30770e96b09d14b54d20a6b2a7a203a23f1d/user/JM32/sort/votes/page/1

George... that previously mentioned Airbus A400M of the French Armée de l'Air was F-RBAH. However, there was a second Armée de l'Air A400M in the U.S.A. at the same time, F-RBAF. This one was in California and flying out of KMHR, Sacramento Mather Airport. The flight history shows one flight north of San Francisco and over the Mill Valley area of the Golden State...

http://flightaware.com/photos/view/3431977-9d6fdf850727ab48d779607d8d28beac42b1fdd6/all/sort/date/page/4

Wow, thanks. That may well have been it. It was accompanied by ten fighters that I took to be F-16's. Came out over the Golden Gate and circled around over the ocean for awhile, last Saturday.

George... I think your information just nailed this one down very tightly.

That A400M of the French Armée de l'Air was serving as the support aircraft for the Patrouille de France aerobatic team, which was in your part of California for this:

"April 13th-16th: California Capitol Airshow, Sacramento & Golden Gate Bridge Flyby in San Francisco, CA".

Note their U.S. and Canada aerobatic show schedule showing in this link...

https://theaviationist.com/2017/02/24/french-aerobatic-team-patrouille-de-france-announces-official-u-s-schedule/

Those ten fighters you saw were certainly the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet light attack/trainer aircraft of Patrouille de France!

They normally perform with eight Alpha Jet aircraft... the extra two you counted would likely be their backup aircraft.

8 went in early and 2 stayed behind. Thanks for fleshing this out, cliff731. Makes it more interesting! I had not imagined a French aerobatics team here on the CA coast.

George... you're welcome and thanks for your kind words. The Patrouille de France did make quite a great show during their visit...!!!