Yon & Herc

Michael Yon: Another great 'embed' article Supplying the remote outpost troops in Afghanistan from the air; with the greatest multipurpose aircraft of all time.. 50+ years and still in production.*


You'll see in the flight cabin pics why I loved flying in it 'back when I was just a kid'... fantastic clear weather views, especially night flights.

*Airbus as part of a multi-national consortium, began developing the A400 replacement for the Hercules in 1982 with the first delivery now scheduled for sometime 2012 or later.
BUT Probably never.
Though the A400 has a lot higher capacity, there's a very troublesome cost overrun and it wont land on the same 'semi-improved' strips as the Herc. Also Mil's are wondering at the need for another heavy lift turboprop for in country support.

The Herc was delivered in 1957, 5 1/2 years after contract awarded to Lockheed.

Lockheed dropped out of the A400 joint development in 1989 and delivered the first J model in 1999, after a full redesign.

The A400 engines were flight tested on a Herc