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"Spooky" C-130E, ACFT No. 63-7771
I found this today while searching for some Tail numbers of my favorite Aircraft. Some of you all that served in SE Asia may have flown on ole' Spooky here is the final story of a good flying airplane that always brought me Home
Spirit of Spooky flies on By Rob Raine (with thanks to Master Sergeant Rob Jalbert, Jr. and Technical Sergeant Paul Gernon) During the course of C-130E, No. 63- 7771?s operational life, it acquired the nickname ?Spooky.? Represented either as a small sheet-clad ghost, or a bowlertopped, cigar-chomping hob-goblin, someone or something haunted ?Spooky.? Tales of ?triple-seven-one?, the haunted plane of Little Rock Air Force Base abound. Former crewmembers tell stories about hearing the sound of footsteps walking across the top of the aircraft. Another eerie story occurred on a duty weekend during preparation for flight operations. The witness reported power coming on in the aircraft without a power unit connected. ?When I was at Little Rock people were afraid to work on ?triple-seven-one? because of the noises and strange things that happened on it,? said former Crew Chief, Master Sergeant Rob Jalbert, Jr. ?Only one weird thing happened when I crewed it. The flight deck was a mess, I left the plane. When I returned things were straightened out. I just figured people were messing with me.? So well known were ?Spooky?s? antics that people at Little Rock AFB allegedly refused to work on the aircraft. Most stories seem to agree that ?Spooky?s? legend centers around a loadmaster who died on the plane near the end of the Vietnam War. However, researchers report that the C-130 was first nicknamed ?Spooky? around July 1989. Ghosts aside, Master Sergeant Jalbert said, ?It was the best flying aircraft I ever was a crew chief on. At Patrick AFB it had a 90-plus mission capable rate.? Like nearly all U.S. aerospace assets, ?Spooky? eventually retired to AMARC, where the plane continued to contribute to the Air Force mission through parts reclamation. Bit by bit, ?Spooky?s? spirit made its way back to the skies ? flying missions in other C-130s around the world ? moving cargo, supporting ground forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, carrying parts and mail, perhaps even delivering supplies to victims of natural disasters. Although ?Spooky? didn?t just fade away like a disappearing ghost ? the remains of 63-7771?s hulk sold for scrap ? the aircraft did serve long and honorably. And today, thanks to the efforts of the AMARC team, ?Spooky?s? spirit flies on.
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[><] Dixie born and proud of it. |
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#2
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Great story! Did you serve on this aircraft or a similar one? One more question, I have seen websites that just list tailnumbers, what is the story with that? I mean I know each aircraft has a tail number but do those websites give a history for each tailnumber as well?
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#3
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David: I worked on A/C 7771 at Little Rock AFB for Four years and off and on when it would arrive at bases I was stationed at until it went to the salvage yard.
On the Tail Numbers some of the sites have a list of Tail Numbers that they collect of planes that have landed at a certain airfield. others have a list of certain series of tail numbers. A few sites actually have a short history of a certain A/C Tail Number I hope this helps a little, that's all I know about tail numbers on websites. BTW any plane with better then 90% reliability rating was a great airplane to Fly on The only thing strange I had seen on 7771 was one nite I was working in the Avionics Bay under the flight deck and their was no one on the plane and nobody could board with out me seeing them and the lights went out and I just reacted and yelled" Hey Turn the lights back on!" and they turned back on and I was the only person on the plane? Go figure
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[><] Dixie born and proud of it. |
#4
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Thanks for the info. 90% or not, that's one plane I would not want to fly on hehe
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#5
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David your welcome,
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[><] Dixie born and proud of it. |
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