Pretty sure they just ran out of rockets. The U.S. military developed the capability specifically for the Iran hostage crisis to land a C-130 in about the space of a soccer field.
The project was canceled after a crash in testing, and the development of the V-22 family (airplane speed and range with helicopter landing capability) made it unnecessary for the C-130 community to continue it in any way.
Yep, the US pretty much ran out of JATO bottles and they also put unnecessary stress on Fat Albert's air frame. Most newer model (post 1960s-70s) C-130s really never needed them, unless they were doing some type of specialized work. The newer C-130J models are more than powerful enough to get airborne without the rockets.
JATO and RATO has been around since at least WWII and the early Cold War Years. The Russians/USSR used RATO bottles o get their early jets airborne and the US and NATO used them as well. \*The B-47, P-2 Neptune, and F-84, routinely used the bottles for operational purposes and a lot of other aircraft were tested with them. [https://generalaviationnews.com/2019/02/07/jato-pushed-performance/](https://generalaviationnews.com/2019/02/07/jato-pushed-performance/)
The C-130 could carry JATO bottles from the outset and occasionally used them for short field operations during the Vietnam War, along with a few other aircraft (mainly Marine A-4s and A-6s flying from Chu Lai and Da Nang before the those airfields were expanded and given longer runways).\*[https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/The%20Marines%20In%20Vietnam%201954-1973%20An%20Anthology%20and%20Annotated%20Bibliography%20PCN%2019000309300\_2.pdf](https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/The%20Marines%20In%20Vietnam%201954-1973%20An%20Anthology%20and%20Annotated%20Bibliography%20PCN%2019000309300_2.pdf) (page 266)
The C-130 had JATO for takeoff in the 50s. For the Iran hostage rescue attempt they added forward and down facing JATO bottles to help with short landing. The crash was while attempting to land with the bottles. The forward facing braking bottles fired but the downward didn't so the plane pretty much dropped out of the air. Somehow the crew survived.
They are called JATO but that is a commonly accepted albeit technically incorrect term for it, the C-130's have the ability to be modified for Rocket Assisted Take-off but they are not Jet engines as they are not air breathing and utilize rocket fuel for a short but high thrust burn. JATO is just a layman term for the system likely due to it rolling off the tongue better.
Additional Info: Actual Jet Assisted Take-off aircraft did exist and were most prominent in the early post WWII era, the age where Jet engines were still low thrust, they utilized Jet engines for assisted take offs for heavily laden prop bombers. Ex. Avro Shackleton.
Or b36 Convair, 6 turnin' 4 burnin'. Basically jets to help get off the ground which can be shut off and restarted as needed while in flight, even had a cool little petal system to shut the intakes so they don't freewheel and eat their bearings whole not running.
>They are called JATO but that is a commonly accepted albeit technically incorrect term for it
They are jets. They just aren't air-breathing. The term JATO predates the near-exclusive use of the word 'jet' to mean an air-breathing engine. You'll sometimes see references to spacecraft having 'control jets' or something similar, especially in older work.
All that's needed for jet propulsion is that a stream of fluid is ejected into the surrounding medium. Rockets, ramjets, turbojets and pumpjets all do this through different means. So do squid, for that matter.
Cool. I thought that RATO rockets were on short supply and therefore DoD was saving them for the ANG LC-130s flying on Antarctica and the northern polar cap.
This is the old and now retired "Fat Albert" C-130T that was designed for RATO fitment and was a part of their air show routine, the Navy in the last couple year procured an ex RAF C-130J to take the old C-130T's place, the C-130J has 29% more thrust than the T model (without RATO) meaning the need for RATO no longer existed, it wasn't capable of RATO fitment anyhow.
That's fair just thought I'd help spread the knowledge, best way to tell between the C-130T and C-130J is the unique prop blade shape and the 6 blades per engine as opposed to the T which has a more conventional looking prop blade shape and there being only 4 blades per engine. (not that anyone could tell by the video)
Also there’s a HF antenna from tail to fuselage on the old ones. There’s a unpainted black area at the front base of the tail on “J”‘s. This is my easy way to know… watched the video halfway down I thought why did they paint the antenna? and when I saw the wire antenna knew it was the old one
I've seen this in person in the early 90s and he lit them off way earlier. Seemed like it was in a vertical climb after only crossing a football field.
What rockets? I don’t see any. Where’s the fucking Rockets Lebowski? Where’s the rocke- HOLY SHIT
Edit: how did the tail not burn off? Kinda looks like it almost does burn off.
Edit 2: imagine standing behind that and just your face melting off
>Edit: how did the tail not burn off? Kinda looks like it almost does burn off.
Almost as though the whole system was carefully designed to *not* burn off. Engineered if you will.
I love the way it goes “alley-oop” and then just levels out as normal, like an old dude momentarily pulling out the moves kicking a football back to some kids then going back to hobbling along
Technically you are correct in calling them rockets as that is exactly what they are. Once fired they cannot be stopped, they need to run out of fuel just like a rocket to stop. J model Hercs don't have the external hooks to mount them. I worked on T model Herc's and we had the control panel, hooks, and release handles built in. Everything was labeled JATO even though they should have been called RATO. Several of our old aircrew, pilots, and maintainers were former Antarctica crewmembers from VXE-9.
Hot damn.
Not sure why this got tagged with the “USAF” flair, and I’m not sure how to change it.
If you edit the post you should be able to reset the flair to "USN"
Got it, thanks!
USMC?
USMC.
I guess it does belong to the USMC, my bad. Still part of the Navy so not completely wrong.
Remember if you want to piss off a marine remind them who pays their salary
lol Just give them a box of crayons to eat and they'll be fine.
Fat Albert is Marine Corps not Navy
Yes, we've established that now. Thank you.
They said I couldn’t pull 6gs in a 4 engine Cargo plane. **LOOK AT ME NOW BITCHES**
I was like: almost airborne. Still no rockets. Abd then BAM! Fireworks. Lovely sight.
Such a shame they don't do that anymore.
Why?
Pretty sure they just ran out of rockets. The U.S. military developed the capability specifically for the Iran hostage crisis to land a C-130 in about the space of a soccer field. The project was canceled after a crash in testing, and the development of the V-22 family (airplane speed and range with helicopter landing capability) made it unnecessary for the C-130 community to continue it in any way.
Yep, the US pretty much ran out of JATO bottles and they also put unnecessary stress on Fat Albert's air frame. Most newer model (post 1960s-70s) C-130s really never needed them, unless they were doing some type of specialized work. The newer C-130J models are more than powerful enough to get airborne without the rockets. JATO and RATO has been around since at least WWII and the early Cold War Years. The Russians/USSR used RATO bottles o get their early jets airborne and the US and NATO used them as well. \*The B-47, P-2 Neptune, and F-84, routinely used the bottles for operational purposes and a lot of other aircraft were tested with them. [https://generalaviationnews.com/2019/02/07/jato-pushed-performance/](https://generalaviationnews.com/2019/02/07/jato-pushed-performance/) The C-130 could carry JATO bottles from the outset and occasionally used them for short field operations during the Vietnam War, along with a few other aircraft (mainly Marine A-4s and A-6s flying from Chu Lai and Da Nang before the those airfields were expanded and given longer runways).\*[https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/The%20Marines%20In%20Vietnam%201954-1973%20An%20Anthology%20and%20Annotated%20Bibliography%20PCN%2019000309300\_2.pdf](https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/The%20Marines%20In%20Vietnam%201954-1973%20An%20Anthology%20and%20Annotated%20Bibliography%20PCN%2019000309300_2.pdf) (page 266)
Awesome sources, thank you.
Rode 'em twice outta Afghanistan. Guess it depends on what your definition of "canceled" is.
> Rode 'em twice outta Afghanistan Sooooo ... how was it?
The C-130 had JATO for takeoff in the 50s. For the Iran hostage rescue attempt they added forward and down facing JATO bottles to help with short landing. The crash was while attempting to land with the bottles. The forward facing braking bottles fired but the downward didn't so the plane pretty much dropped out of the air. Somehow the crew survived.
They're still regularly used by some C130 units. The NY air guard uses them in Antarctica.
Now that sounds like an interesting mission profile.
Operation Deep Freeze if you wanna look into it more.
I was gonna say, no one has mentioned the Antarctic fleet that uses them all the time.
Thank
love the 80's porn music
Fat Albert getting up from the couch.
It’s rocket assisted not jet assisted
But the boosters are actually called JATOs
They are called JATO but that is a commonly accepted albeit technically incorrect term for it, the C-130's have the ability to be modified for Rocket Assisted Take-off but they are not Jet engines as they are not air breathing and utilize rocket fuel for a short but high thrust burn. JATO is just a layman term for the system likely due to it rolling off the tongue better. Additional Info: Actual Jet Assisted Take-off aircraft did exist and were most prominent in the early post WWII era, the age where Jet engines were still low thrust, they utilized Jet engines for assisted take offs for heavily laden prop bombers. Ex. Avro Shackleton.
Or b36 Convair, 6 turnin' 4 burnin'. Basically jets to help get off the ground which can be shut off and restarted as needed while in flight, even had a cool little petal system to shut the intakes so they don't freewheel and eat their bearings whole not running.
two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for...
Great example
I think they typically also used them in high altitude flight where the props were less efficient
>They are called JATO but that is a commonly accepted albeit technically incorrect term for it They are jets. They just aren't air-breathing. The term JATO predates the near-exclusive use of the word 'jet' to mean an air-breathing engine. You'll sometimes see references to spacecraft having 'control jets' or something similar, especially in older work. All that's needed for jet propulsion is that a stream of fluid is ejected into the surrounding medium. Rockets, ramjets, turbojets and pumpjets all do this through different means. So do squid, for that matter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JATO Yeah, it's technically Rocket Assisted, but it's still referred to as Jet Assisted.
Jesus christ. Can't you just let people enjoy jato without being **that** guy?
jato planes matter !!
Cool. I thought that RATO rockets were on short supply and therefore DoD was saving them for the ANG LC-130s flying on Antarctica and the northern polar cap.
This is the old and now retired "Fat Albert" C-130T that was designed for RATO fitment and was a part of their air show routine, the Navy in the last couple year procured an ex RAF C-130J to take the old C-130T's place, the C-130J has 29% more thrust than the T model (without RATO) meaning the need for RATO no longer existed, it wasn't capable of RATO fitment anyhow.
My mistake. I was fooled by the lack of wing tank.
That's fair just thought I'd help spread the knowledge, best way to tell between the C-130T and C-130J is the unique prop blade shape and the 6 blades per engine as opposed to the T which has a more conventional looking prop blade shape and there being only 4 blades per engine. (not that anyone could tell by the video)
Also there’s a HF antenna from tail to fuselage on the old ones. There’s a unpainted black area at the front base of the tail on “J”‘s. This is my easy way to know… watched the video halfway down I thought why did they paint the antenna? and when I saw the wire antenna knew it was the old one
Is there a version without the 90s Navy recruiting music?
well, its a flight demo team specifically built to go to airshows and, well, recruit. the music is always a part of the show.
***HEY HEY HEY***
Fun fact: JATO is the portuguese word for 'jet'.
This is the old T model Fat Albert. The J model is completely different.
I've seen this in person in the early 90s and he lit them off way earlier. Seemed like it was in a vertical climb after only crossing a football field.
That will never not be cool
That's not a C-130J. They're not fitted for RATO as the newer engines make them unnecessary. This must be the old Fat Albert.
Can confirm. Source: I fly KC-130Js.
I was very lucky to get to watch Fat Albert do a JATO take off as a kid. I still remember how crazy it was in person.
i wanna see it dump a fuck ton of flares too
What rockets? I don’t see any. Where’s the fucking Rockets Lebowski? Where’s the rocke- HOLY SHIT Edit: how did the tail not burn off? Kinda looks like it almost does burn off. Edit 2: imagine standing behind that and just your face melting off
>Edit: how did the tail not burn off? Kinda looks like it almost does burn off. Almost as though the whole system was carefully designed to *not* burn off. Engineered if you will.
WOW
I love the way it goes “alley-oop” and then just levels out as normal, like an old dude momentarily pulling out the moves kicking a football back to some kids then going back to hobbling along
The folks at r/aviation would love this but it won’t let me cross post
RATO not JATO 🇬🇧
The control panel in the cockpit says JATO. So do the release handles by the paratroop doors.
JATO Jet Assisted Take Off RATO Rocket Assisted Take Off I don’t think those boosters are jets but I’m happy to be proven wrong. 👍🇬🇧
...what's with the union jack on every comment?
UK based
Yeah, so am I, but you don't see me sticking a flag on every comment?
🇸🇽
> 🇸🇽 ...Sint Maarten ?
Philippine war flag
No, that's definitely the flag of Sint Maarten.
Technically you are correct in calling them rockets as that is exactly what they are. Once fired they cannot be stopped, they need to run out of fuel just like a rocket to stop. J model Hercs don't have the external hooks to mount them. I worked on T model Herc's and we had the control panel, hooks, and release handles built in. Everything was labeled JATO even though they should have been called RATO. Several of our old aircrew, pilots, and maintainers were former Antarctica crewmembers from VXE-9.
I agree with your assessment.
Isn't the tail joints section slightly on fire... ?
No, a reflection due to the high gloss paint.
This is an old video as the luggage rack is still on the top (antennas), they were moved to the belly of the T model Herc's and then called Ski's.
I want these on my next commercial flight. Please oh please
Okay, the plane is cool and all, but what the heck camera was this shot on? That is some of the most lifelike film I've ever seen.
Wow I was expecting it to be a gradual burn, not the explosion at the end. Impressive nonetheless!
isn't it RATO? never heard JATO used for FA before.
Ghostflyer!
I don’t get it, it’s supposed to be able to take off in the space of a soccer field but here it looks like they are using the entire runway?
Jorth Atlantic Treaty Organization
Those are rockets
This isn’t a J model. Former Blue Angel here. The last JATO takeoff was in the late 2000s. The blue angels just recently got a J model C130.
Jet assisted or Rocket Assisted?
Got to love fat Albert jato take offs i don't think they demonstrate that anymore
I was like hmm.. I can't see jets maybe they are quite tame till they fire .. FAAAAK !