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C-130J Super Hercules Looks Like a Camouflaged Metal Bird Over Alaska

Last week, an incredible image of a C-130J Super Hercules flying in the skies over Alaska hit our screens with amazing shades of blue and white. For all intents and purposes, it was one of the coolest pics we’ve hosted in our Photo of the Day section in a long time. But now here’s an even cooler one.
C-130J Super Hercules with the 815th Airlift Squadron 20 photos
Photo: USAF/Staff Sgt. Shelton Sherrill
C-130J Super Hercules during Arctic SWAT exercise in AlaskaLockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130Lockheed Martin C-130C-130J Super Hercules with the 815th Airlift Squadron
You’re looking at (presumably) the same C-130J Super Hercules, only captured from another angle as it dragged its massive body over the water near the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska in mid-July.

Like most other photos of military aircraft coming our way courtesy of the men and women of the U.S. Air Force, this one too shows the plane, deployed with the 815th Airlift Squadron, as it conducts a training exercise. One meant, according to the military branch to test “the aircraft and pilot capabilities in a new environment,” completely different from the one the plane is used to from its home Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi.

The Super Hercules is one of those many massive transport planes we’re used to seeing in our skies for some time now. It entered service about a quarter of a century ago, being made by Lockheed Martin as one of the many variants (about 11) of the C-130.

This particular family of planes, of which over 400 are in service around the world, has roughly 1.7 million flight hours to its name since coming into being. The thing is flown so extensively because it not only acts as a military transport aircraft, but can fulfill a variety of other roles, from humanitarian assistance to firefighting.

Four Rolls-Royce engines, two on each wing, power it along, providing it with a cruising speed of 400 mph (644 kph) and a service ceiling of 28,000 ft (8,500 m), when carrying a 42,000 lb (19,051 kg) payload.
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Editor's note: Gallery shows other C-130s.

About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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