USAF AC-130 and MC-130s

^^Gord^^

^^Gord^^

^^Gord^^

Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
1,968
Location
Nottingham
The USAF Special Operations Group have been busy this week and that meant I managed to catch two AC-130U gunships. They are a bit of a rare sight in the UK as they are in such demand in Afghanistan so two at once was a real turn up. Without saying too much they were in RAF Mildenhall to arm up (a C-5 Galaxy had arrived with their ammo) before departing the next day.

The MC-130s are local assists and provide tactical transport for special operations (hence all the clever bits of kit stuck on it). This particular version is the Combat Talon II and in my opinion the best looking!

From a photography point of view, I'm not really happy with what I came back with. I decided to go with my 70-200 to get wide shots of the Hercs but the heat haze and background clutter left me with only a few shots I feel I can use. Should have gone with the 300 prime and gone tight on them but you can't get things right all the time.

A bit of info about the AC-130s and a few extra photos of KC-135s on my site... http://www.fast-air.co.uk/usaf-sog-ac-130-and-mc-130/


USAF-AC-130U-90-0163-Photo-1.jpg


USAF-AC-130U-89-1054-Photo-1.jpg


USAF-MC-130H-90-0195-Photo-1.jpg


USAF-MC-130H-87-0024-Photo-1.jpg
 
Not a lover of the Herc in general but I do like the gunships. I got up close to one at Farnborough some years ago and was most impressed.

Cracking shots by the way :cool:
 
Oooh I've never seen one of the Combat Talon's, thanks for sharing them with us. Only the American's would take a transport plane, drill a big hole in the side and stick a gattling gun through! :p
 
wouldn't it be nice if that was the MC130 the Para Rescue used to recover the crew of the downed F15 over libya ?

Good photos either way :)
 
Thanks guys!

Bluelion said:
Oooh I've never seen one of the Combat Talon's, thanks for sharing them with us. Only the American's would take a transport plane, drill a big hole in the side and stick a gattling gun through! :p
Click to expand...

I can understand the gattling gun, it's the 105mm Howitzer that I can't get my head around!

I believe they are intending to replace the Howitzer with a 120mm motor system at some point in the future.

MrLOL said:
wouldn't it be nice if that was the MC130 the Para Rescue used to recover the crew of the downed F15 over libya ?

Good photos either way :)
Click to expand...

I#m sure more details will come out about that as time goes on but not sure we'll ever know which particular aircraft were invovled.
 
Fantastic planes - thanks for sharing the pictures :cool:

"Sniper One" by Dan Mills has a nice bit about being on the ground when they had AC-130s in support.
 
SteveOBHave said:
That radome is not pretty - looks much better without it. And is that a big observation bubble in the back?
Click to expand...

You'd prefer the Combat Spear variant then. Similar setup but it doesn't have terrain following radar so it has the usual Herc nose.

I like the look of the nose, you know it's something special as soon as you see it.

Yes, there is an observation bubble on the back of the AC-130 along with a large (something like 5th by 2ft) rectangle observation window on the right hand side (I'll try to add a photo when I have time).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom