Since we’re back in that mess again…
Detachment flight schedules sometimes got interesting…
Jeddah more so than most… Stuck off in the far right corner of the airport, you never knew who or what might show up in the middle of the night…
Dets tended, over the years, to be ‘interesting’ regardless of when/where one ended up. They ranged from one crew/one airplane, to 6-7 airplanes from multiple locations with minimal support, basically whatever could be scrounged at that particular location. Air Force C-130s were always a good source of parts for the P-3s, as we had the same engines… Just the 130s had theirs upside down! 🙂
h/t Frito
No! P-3s had their engines upside down.
Former C-130 pilot,
BillB
Agreed – more C-130s than P-3s built. Win by majority vote.
Former EC-130E ABCCC Flight Engineer
So were the C-130 parts exchanged or liberated?
Interesting that in ’78 we had dets to Bandar Abbas, now we schedule combat flights to same.
Bill- LOL
Gerry- Maybe…
Flugel- Yep, been there a couple of times.
I was curious, so I looked up the engines on the P-3 and C-130. They are basically the same, but the configuration is different due to ground clearance, the gear-box requirements, and the basic requirements for the airplanes. Considering what I read, there is a huge difference in opinions on which airplane is better, even though they have different purposes. One thing is for sure, the differences are arguing points similar to the arguments between Ford, and Chevy owners.
Jess- True, but there ‘were’ common parts (ahem, start control valves) that were readily available to be ‘reallocated’… 😉
A lot of things to interchange, except that possible very large drink of JP-9. Thoroughbreds …
Also true for odd ground corners of some bases. You get “eye troubles, allergies” from things you probably hadn’t seen.