C-130 Oven Hue Vietnam

Hanging out the cockpit window of C-130-E while parked on the ramp in Hue, Vietnam - 1972. Without engines running there was no air conditioning, and the inside of the aircraft was like an oven in the Southeast Asian heat. One window on each side of the cockpit opened inward to provide just a little bit of ventilation. These windows also allowed emergency escape from the plane if you could manage to maneuver through it with aid of a handle on the inside above the window ... while dropping to the ground you would need to avoid the pointy object about 4 feet below the window. This was the critical pitot tube that provided airspeed to instruments in the cockpit. Important line items of the pilot's checklists were "Pitot Heat - On/Off" ... if these devices iced up at altitude they could provide incorrect airspeed that could be fatal.

Nakom Phnom (NKP) Airbase Thailand

Nicely constructed covered sign identifying Nakom Phnom Royal Thai Air Force Base at NKP, Thailand - 1973. NKP was important for air rescue and other North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodian operations because of its location in the far northeast corner of Thailand. Our C-130 crew occasionally used this as home base for a week or two of flying daily sorties.

ARVN Soldiers Boarding C-130

A group of about 50 ARVN soldiers waiting to board C-130 via rear cargo doors - 1973. Unclear where this was, but appears to be a small remote dirt airstrip that we often flew into in central part of Vietnam. This 35mm slide was in very rough condition thus the appearance despite about an hour spent on extensive Photoshop processing ... turned out to be similar to what some Photoshoppers might call intensional woodcuteffect.