"Jackson" cleared for takeoff

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The Wyoming Air National Guard is looking for a few good names. The first of four additional C-130 cargo planes promised to the 153rd Airlift Wing sits on a tarmac in Cheyenne waiting for a name. Eight existing C-130s are already named for Wyoming municipalities – Cheyenne, Sheridan, Cody, Riverton, Laramie, Casper, Guernsey and Rock Springs – making every other incorporated city in the Equality State eligible for getting its name on the plane simply by voting.

Three finalists for each of the four new aircraft will be chosen based on the number of entries received in each quadrant of the state. Gov. Dave Freudenthal will then randomly pull the winning names in June. Dedication ceremonies are scheduled for August in each winning city. Ten voters from each winning city will also be selected to fly aboard the C-130 for its inaugural flight with a new name.

“Wyoming has a rich and proud tie to the military,” Maj. Gen. Ed Wright, Wyoming’s adjutant general, said. “Allowing Wyoming residents to choose the names of our aircraft celebrates that tradition.”

Jackson has tragic ties to the C-130. On August 17, 1996, an Air Force C-130 from Dyess AFB in Texas crashed into Sheep Mountain shortly after takeoff. The nine crewmembers were part of a detachment serving president Bill Clinton, who was visiting Jackson Hole at the time but left earlier on Air Force One. All aboard the “Herc” were killed. The incident is remembered by Jacksonites every anniversary and a monument to the event stands in nearby Curtis Canyon.

The C-130 that could bear the name “Jackson” was built in 1993 and comes most recently from the 302nd Airlift Wing, U.S. Air Force Reserve, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Considered a workhorse in the Air Force’s transport fleet, the C-130 is a four-engine turbo prop cargo plane used mostly to haul people and equipment. The slow, fat, reliable aircraft are often nicknamed “Hercules” and are designed for quick departures from short runways.

In Wyoming, the C-130 has been deployed for a variety of non-combat assignments. The versatile aircraft is used in fighting wildfires, transporting heavy equipment, search and rescue, and, most recently, for feeding stranded cattle in December’s blizzard in Colorado.
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