Willis Hawkins, C-130 Designer: ‘We Got This One Exactly Right’

The Lockheed YC-130 Hercules tactical transport prototype is flown for the first time. Entering U.S. Air Force service in December 1956, the C-130, with more than 2,600 aircraft (and counting) delivered in five major production models and more than 70 variants over its career, is today the product of the longest, continuous, active military aircraft production line in history. Continuously updated over the past six decades, more than 500 of the current production model, the C-130J Super Hercules, are today flown by 26 operators worldwide, including the Active duty Air Force, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve Command.