Happy Birthday Herc

[hermankeil]

On 8/23/1954 I was fortunate enough to witness the first takeoff of the prototype C-130. Short takeoff roll, steep climb out. Very impressive. Who could have dreamed it would still be in production 59 years later.

 

[Jemiba]

Thanks for this reminder ! And it's still in production today, so maybe the aircraft with the longest
production period at all ?

 

[AeroFranz]

that or the An-2. Does anyone still make Bonanzas?

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks for this reminder ! And it's still in production today, so maybe the aircraft with the longest
production period at all ?

The Herc is not only the oldest U.S. military type still in production, but I think it's also the U.S. military type with the greatest number of variants, sub-variants and special variants, if I'm not mistaken...

 

[Bill Walker]

Maybe being picky here, but if you consider the Cessna 172 as a development of the 170, note that production deliveries of the Cessan 170 began in 1948,and production of the 172 continues today. Not to take anything away from the Herc of course.