Mar 292020
The HC-130H is the designation of the Hercules cargo aircraft modified for Coast Guard search and rescue. The first one, shown in the diagram below, was given a number of modifications from the standard C-130. Most obvious was the radome fairing above the fuselage and the Fulton device on the nose. This meant that the aircraft was capable of snagging a balloon-lifted cable, and then snatching a payload – possibly a person – from the ground. See “The Dark Knight” for a demonstration…
I remember seeing the Fulton system in the John Wayne movie The Green Berets. too bad the coasties didn’t use it. it would have made sense to pick up a wounded, but stable, guy off a fishing boat…or drop a life raft, then pick guys off the life raft a few at a time.
response time would be a lot faster than a helicopter too.
Bond, James Bond. Thunderball.
The HC-130H above is not the USCG variant – this one is the USAF version first fielded in 1965. The dome on the upper fuselage held the antennae for a satellite beacon tracker, and it was fitted with the Fulton Skyhook. While personnel pickup was an option. The skyhook and sat-track system was used to snare film capsules from recon satellites, replacing the C-119s that were first used.