Hercules XV208

see this thread

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76705&highlight=snoopy

I believe that she has had her first slow speed taxi run this week with the new engine

What´s om with XV208 RAF at this moment.

Saw a 2005 picture of it on: http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5851964&nseq=4

Transfer to RNLAF was cancelled. Went on in RAF service I presume.

Bet the ground crew where relieved it got airborne after all that time on the ground !

Not half as relieved as the aircrew in the cockpit I bet….. 😉

Snoopy took off yesterday at 11:08 Am and did one fly by down the length of the main runway, nice and slow and with the undercart hanging out for an airing before droning off to a new life.

Lovely to see it back in the air again and a fair turn out of well-wishers / on-lookers / fag break types lining the roads on camp watching as well.

Bet the ground crew where relieved it got airborne after all that time on the ground !

XV208 did leave Boscombe yesterday morning having been brought out of storage earlier this year having not flown for several years. I believe it had clearance for the single ferry flight to Marshalls. I was certainly lead to believe the aircraft was on its way to the RNLAF as a normal Herc, and news of it being used to replace XV179 is news to me, but may be true. But we certainly won’t be seeing Snoopy again…

Rumours abound!

“Today Ex WX Research C-130 XV-208 was delivered to Marshall’s
Cambridge to become the Engine Test bed for the A-400M when they have
fitted and Engine(s) to it “

(From another source)

That’s not what I’ve seen! Also from another source:

“The last flight of the only W Mk 2 Hercules took place today. Snoopy left its Wiltshire base of the last 10 years for Cambridge under ownership of Marshall Aerospace.

Having had its RAF markings removed a number of months ago they were rapidly reapplied at the beginning of the week, reinstating its military registration of XV208.

Rumoured to be the replacement for the sad loss of the C Mk 1 earlier this year, it is to be converted back to a C Mk 1 and “swapped” for a C Mk 3. The C Mk 3 will then become the engine test bed for the A400M”.

Rumours abound!

“Today Ex WX Research C-130 XV-208 was delivered to Marshall’s
Cambridge to become the Engine Test bed for the A-400M when they have
fitted and Engine(s) to it “

(From another source)

She was flown to Marshall’s this week for conversion back to standard config. and will stay in the RAF now as a replacement for the Herc tragically lost in Iraq earlier this year, according to a posting over on PPRuNe.

the RAF have been contracted to provide cover with Nimrods

There was a time when the only way to make money out of the Armed Forces was Rape and Pillage, times they are indeed changing 😀

They probably regret Fokker persuading them to buy them (effectively one off’s) then going bust.

The RNLAF never really wanted them to begin with. This was just a “Boeing-style” subsidy. It gave Fokker some money, something to do and a new type all in one. So as far as the economics ministry was concerned it was a succesful operation (pity the patient died).

Two of the F60s will be sold. The other two will be converted to perform maritime patrol duties in the carribean. They will replace the Orion drugs hunters stationed there.

Do they regret buying them without a rear-loading ramp?

They probably regret Fokker persuading them to buy them (effectively one off’s) then going bust.

Anyone know how many former RAF Hercs Marchalls still has and what kind of shape they may be in? I understand the Irish Air Corps is considering obtaining an upgrade model similar to the Austrian’s. Looking at cost benefit analysis of that against a new C-130J-30 (expensive and two years+ to wait) or one or two C-295’s (good price, not much wait, but lacking in range and payload), or A400 (pricey and uncertain delivery date).

[QUOTE=Arthur]The Dutch want two more C-130H-30s to replace the four Fokker 60s,

…WHAT?? How can two C-130H-30s replace the four Fokker 60s, which are only a few years old. Do they regret buying them without a rear-loading ramp?

The Dutch want two more C-130H-30s to replace the four Fokker 60s, and since Lockheed now only builds Jerculeses, they must be found on the second-hand market.

XV208 is absolutely a good buy at that. It’s airframe has suffered very little, and since all the systems and avionics had to be gutted anyway to make the aircraft compatible with the two current Dutch Herks. But it’s definately a shame to see Snoopy turn into another grey boring blob.

Hmm, doesn’t really sound that viable to me, with the cost of de-modding the airframe and the fuselage stretch, on what is still a nearly 40 year-old airframe (albeit low-houred).

Still, stranger things have happened……….

You’ve answered your own query in brackets – low houred. Comparing XV208 to all the other RAF airframes, which have hauled loads all over the world, ‘Snoopy’ has been treated very well and has flown very low hours just with a few scientists in the back. If they can overhaul and re-sell some of the other high-houred and tired airframes to Austria, Sri Lanka and Poland, it MUST be worth de-converting this one.

Now that’ s more like the truth – thanks!

It’s appearantly going to continue flying, but not without refit. XV208 will have it’s probe and overhead radome removed and get stretched to become a standard C-130H-30 for the Dutch airforce.

From Touchdown News, in a perfectly messy Yahoogroups layout:

The 3rd Herc for the Dutch Air Force (ex XV208) will enter service in 2005
already. It will be converted to the same C-130H-30 standard as the other two.
This means it will be lengthened with two new sections to the fuselage.

— In [email]Touchdown-News@yahoogroups.com[/email], “jhartman@x”
wrote:
> Hello all,
>
>
> An interesting thread has developed at the Scramble Messageboard…
>
> People NOT ABLE to read Dutch, please click at
>
>
http://scramble.ykoon.nl/viewtopic.php?t=10345&sid=4eac3240abb3a93e3a1
311f3a
> 7bc1647
> or at
> http://tinyurl.com/66vl2 if the link was broken…
>
> The thread above started with this text:
>
> “The Dutch MoD announced that they will purchase another (third)
Hercules.
> This C-130 will be purchased from the RAF and is quite similar to the other
> two C-130 already operating for the RNLAF with the 334 Sqn. This plane
will
> enter service mid 2006 and eventually two Fokker 60 will be put out of
> service.
> In the end all four Fokker 60’s will be phased out and a fourth C-130 will
> replace those last two sixties.”
>
>
> More info (in Dutch) can be found at
> http://tinyurl.com/6ce5t (RNLAF official press statement)
> and
> http://tinyurl.com/7yab5 (an official document to Dutch Parliament)
>
> Persistent rumours link the plan for a third Royal Netherlands Air Force
> C-130 with ex-RAF Hercules XV208, which is indeed Hercules W.2
“Snoopy” ,
> the former “weather bird” of the RAE and its successor…
> But in what condition is she currently at Boscombe Down, and how much
would
> it cost to convert her back to “transport configuration”??
>
> The possible acquisition of a Portuguese C-130 has also been mooted
several
> times.
> The Dutch Ministry of Defence has sold five Lockheed P-3C Orions to
> Portugal for about 70 million Euros…
> Perhaps a deal was struck?
>
>
> Regards
> Erik Jan Hartman

And Robbo thought my Buccaneer joke was bad…

It was so bad it was funny 🙂

..but many people can’t see the point (boom, boom!) 😀

And Robbo thought my Buccaneer joke was bad… :rolleyes:

..but many people can’t see the point (boom, boom!) 😀

That joke could mean promotion or death, my dear…(Spike Milligan)

Sadly although XV208 survives, dear old snoopy was taken behind the shed (Marshalls Cambridge) and shot 😮 Like other retired RAF C130s, those not scrapped (very few were), XV208 was refurbished and sold on. This according to someone on the Marshalls display stand at this year’s Waddington Air Show.

Now I would like to see one or two preserved?