by Alwyn C.
When I left
NACA (now NASA) to join the Lockheed-Georgia Company in Marietta, little did I
know that I would become a part of a company that has played such an important
role in designing and building so many aircraft for commercial and military use.
My days at Lockheed were the best days of my working career.
From January
1957 to 1969, I was proud to be a part of Department 7245 R&D. Although the
C-130 was already in service, it was continuously being improved to serve advanced
missions—tanker, airborne, gunship, Coast Guard and many others.
I spent a lot
of time building and testing wind tunnel instrument models for the C-130, and
later, on the C-141 Starlifter, the C-140 JetStar, the Hummingbird VTOL and the
C-5 Galaxy programs.
All of these
were great aircraft, but I admire the "Workhorse C-130" for its service
in Vietnam and in the Middle East and its other missions. Over the years since
1969, Lockheed Martin has built high-tech aircraft, but "Herky" is my
still favorite. This amazing aircraft is still in use today.
