Lockheed WC-130

what is it?

The Lockheed WC-130 is a high-wing, medium-range aircraft used for weather reconnaissance missions by the United States Air Force. The aircraft is a modified version of the C-130 Hercules transport configured with specialized weather instrumentation including a dropsonde deployment/receiver system and crewed by a meteorologist for penetration of tropical cyclones and winter storms to obtain data on movement, size and intensity. The USAF's Air Weather Service (AWS) received its first C-130 Hercules in 1962 to conduct air sampling missions in the wake of a resumption of atmospheric weapons testing by the Soviet Union in September 1961.

🔎How to recognise it: 4 turboprops · 40.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 670 km/htop speed
• range 2,963 kmwithout refuelling
• size 70.3 tmax take-off weight

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🏎️Top speed is 5.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 40.4 m: about 9 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 12 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 2,963 km: 16× Amsterdam to Brussels.

turboprop: A jet-style turbine turning a propeller: efficient on short hops.

spec sheet

first flight

—

introduced

1962

status

still flying

number built

—

role

weather reconnaissance

engines

4× Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3

crew

5

length

29.8 m

wingspan

40.4 m

height

11.8 m

max take-off weight

70.3 t

top speed

670 km/h

range

2,963 km

ceiling

8,534 m

wings

monoplane

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family