USAF Armament Museum

USAF Armament Museum

This particular aircraft (Air Force Serial number 53-3129) was the first production "Hercules" built. The "First Lady", as it is known, was rolled out in Marietta, Georgia on March 10, 1955. It was first flown a few weeks later on April 7th. Conversion to "gunship" configuration (AC-130A, "Spectre") was completed in December, 1968. She is now prominently displayed at the USAF Armament Museum just outside of Eglin AFB, FL. in the final AFRES configuration (grey paint, black markings, 4-blade Hamilton Standard props.)

	Picture of how 53-3129 looks today in the USAF Armament Museum. Photo by Don Rogers
	Flyer designed for 53-3129's retirement commemoration. USAF Photo, (large picture)
	US Air Force image of the First Lady inflight
	53-3129 inflight, photo submitted by *Dusty Rhodes
	23mm damage to the engine of 53-3129 contributed by Bill Madsen.

The following aircraft history is a combination of information provided by Maj Debra M. Millett from the 919th SOW, Office of Public Affairs along with information from Joseph Dabney's book, Herk, Hero of the Skies, and a few other references.

At first glance, AC-130A "Spectre" Gunship, Tail Number 53129, resembles all the other A-model Hercules gunships that were assigned to the 919th Special Operations Wing (Air Force Reserve) at Eglin AFB Field 3 (Duke Field), Fla. But, she's different. She's The First Lady, the first production model C-130 Hercules aircraft manufactured for and later accepted by the U.S. Air Force. The First Lady went into production at the Lockheed-Georgia Aircraft Company, Marietta, GA in March 1953, the original prototype of what was to become a long line of C-130 Hercules designed and built by Lockheed.

According to Lockheed-Georgia's public relations officer, now retired Joseph Dabney, the First Lady's original tail number was LAC 3001. Air Force officials changed it to 33-129 and later, to 53129. Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin, with a bottle of Chattahoochee River water, christened "The First Lady", as Lockheed's first C-130 Hercules, during formal ceremonies March 10, 1955. She first lifted off the Lockheed-Georgia Co. runway on April 7, 1955. A week later on April 14, 1955 she suffered serious damage while returning from a test flight when an engine fire broke out. the fire continued to burn and burned the entire left wing off just after the crew evacuated on landing. The aircraft was accepted by the USAF on October 28, 1958. On July 17, 1961, she was redesignated as a JC-130A and modified by Temco Aerosystems and assigned to the 6515 Test Squadron at Patrick AFB, FL where she flew missions for NASA over the Air Force Eastern Test Range.

Conversion to the AC-130A Gunship II configuration was completed December 2, 1968 by LTV Electrosystems at Greenville, TX. This configuration included four M-61 20mm cannons and four GAU-2B 7.62mm miniguns. The First Lady was the seventh and last of the original seven C-130As converted to AC-130As. The First Lady started flying combat missions from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, assigned to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing. During the next three years she flew over 3,000 hours of combat time with the 16th Special Operations Squadron on truck-kill missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. During this time, she received damage from AAA on four different occasions, 27 March 1969, 19 February 1970, 18 April 1970, and 26 Mar 1971. During her last flirt with disaster she was hit by a 74mm shell which exploded just aft of her nose wheel, inflicting serious damage not only to the wheel but also to the area beneath her flight deck. Despite serious damage to her structure and to her hydraulic and electrical components, the venerable First Lady limped back to her home base to be patched up. In May 1971, she returned to LTV and was upgraded with Surprise Package configuration which deleted two of the 7.62mm miniguns, two 20mm cannons and added two 40mm Bofors cannons. Following this modification, she was assigned to the 415th Special Operations Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field for training gunship crews. On July 25, 1975, the first Lady was assigned to the 711th Special Operations Squadron at Duke Field. While at Duke Field, the First Lady participated in operation Uphold Democracy in Panama. The First Lady was retired in 1996 with over 13,600 flying hours. She now resides at the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, FL.