By Sam McGowan Since its debut shortly after the Korean the bombs were dropped by unmodified in diameter and destroyed booby traps War, the C-130 has earned a well- transports. that had been set at intervals out to 150 deserved reputation for versatility. Project Commando Vault was the Air feet from the bomb. Developed as a tactical transport, the Force’s answer to US Army require- Impressed by the test results, MACV Hercules has been adapted to other roles ments for a means of clearing patches directed 7th Air Force to develop a ranging from intelligence gathering to of triple-canopy Vietnamese jungle to method of delivering specialized ord- weather reconnaissance to gunship. allow helicopters to land. Attempts to use nance designed to clear jungle. Tests of One of the lesser-known roles it has air strikes to clear jungle began in 1966, various explosives were conducted at the played is as a bomber, dropping the but proved ineffective, so an effort was Armament Development and Test Center heaviest munitions used since World begun to develop a specialized answer to at Eglin AFB, Fla. Simultaneously, the War II. the requirement. In November 1967, the Army began static tests at Fort Benning, Ga., of the 10,000-pound M121 bomb, a weapon originally developed for the B-36 bomber, then being stored in New Mexico. Further M121 testing was conducted in the western US using a CH-54 Skycrane helicopter and a C-130. According to the flight engineer, TSgt. The use of the C-130 as a bomber in scientific advisor to Military Assistance Charles Anderson, ideas were kicked the Vietnam War wasn’t the first time Command, Vietnam, came up with an around on a routine C-130 flight in Viet- transports were used in that role, but it idea to use a 3,000-pound M118 bomb to nam. Two colonels onboard, one Army and was the most successful. And while some create clearings. One was flown to Dak one Air Force, revealed they were with may think of the application as an ad To, where it was lifted into the jungle by Air Force Systems Command and had hoc development, the C-130 turned out a CH-47 helicopter and detonated by an come to Vietnam to evaluate the use of to be an excellent and accurate bomb- explosives ordnance disposal team. The bombs to clear helicopter landing zones. ing platform. What is remarkable is that resulting blast cleared an area 150 feet While the plan was to use CH-54s, they 58 AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2016 An MC-130E drops a 15,000-pound bomb at the Utah Test and Training Range. BLU-182 bombs were used to create instant landing zones for heli- copters in Vietnam. USAF photo by Capt. Patrick Nichols thought C-130s might be more efficient. Due to logistical issues, it wasn’t until the 374th TAW and 815th TAS, which The pilot, Maj. Robert Archer, offered his the spring of 1969 that operational drops had different systems, were not parts- opinions and was recruited on the spot as a commenced. compatible. They replaced the 463rd B project officer. The mission was assigned The 463rd was one of the C-130 wings models at Tan Son Nhut. to Archer’s 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing. providing airplanes and crews for airlift Select crews in the wing’s four squad- Archer went to Kirtland AFB, N.M., duty with 834th Air Division, a 7th Air rons were qualified to drop the huge to observe tests and returned to Clark Air Force component in South Vietnam. The bombs. Only the aircraft commander, Base in the Philippines, where the 463rd division scheduled bombing missions navigator, and loadmaster needed to be was based. He took his 29th Tactical Airlift for the 463rd. The wing’s C-130Bs qualified. Engineers and copilots required Squadron crew to Vietnam in October had been operating out of Tan Son no special training and any loadmaster 1968 to make a series of test drops using Nhut since 1966 but when the 463rd could serve as the second loadmaster. guidance provided by MSQ-77 ground assumed the new mission, its operating Loadmasters assigned to 834th AD Det. radar. Originally developed to score location changed to Cam Ranh, where 2 routinely flew as second loadmaster on Strategic Air Command bomber crews on Det. 2, 834th Air Division, provided bomb missions. practice missions, the MSQ-77 radar had operational control of the temporary For pilots and navigators, the few been adapted to control Skyspot “blind duty C-130 crews and supervision of unique aspects of the mission meant bombing” by fighters as well as B-52s. their maintenance personnel. working with the radar controllers, pro- Marine pilots used a similar system called viding wind drift information and flying the TPQ-10. Ten bombs were dropped in QUALIFYING CREWS precise headings. Loadmasters learned December 1967 in another series of tests The bombs were shipped to Cam new procedures involving rigging and using the TPQ-10. Ranh and missions originated from the actual drop method itself and became The test drops, which were conducted there to reduce flying time. The 463rd familiar with the controller’s terminology. to evaluate the bombs’ effectiveness and operated the C-130B, which was me- On cargo drops, the loadmaster’s job was train additional crews, were code named chanically compatible with C-130Es to monitor the drop, but the load was Combat Trap, but the operational mission from the 314th TAW that also operated released by the copilot using a switch was dubbed Project Commando Vault. from the seacoast base. The C-130As of in the cockpit. AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2016 59 Commando Vault loadmasters released Normally, a 15,000-pound pallet re- at the rear. The timer activated when the the powerful weapons themselves by pull- quired a larger parachute, but 15-foot triangular parachute deployed. Muni- ing a handle that was intended for emer- extraction parachutes could be used be- tions personnel installed them before the gency release. The extraction parachute cause the extraction parachute was already platform went to the airplane. was deployed prior to the actual release. deployed in the slipstream when the pallet The conventional fuse was the primary. Because they sent the huge bombs on was released. The bomb was held in the If it worked properly, the bomb would their way, loadmaster were sometimes airplane by the right hand locks on the detonate before it buried itself in the referred to unofficially as bombardiers. 463L cargo handling system, which had ground and not leave a crater. The timed Once they were qualified, bomb crews been set to provide maximum tension fuse was a backup in case the primary rotated to Cam Ranh as they had been and prevent the pallet from moving when failed. Occasionally, neither worked and doing. If bomb missions were scheduled, the parachute deployed. The loadmaster the bomb was a dud. When this happened, bomb crews were scheduled separately released the locks on a signal from the an EOD team flew in by helicopter to from the normal schedule. The 463rd controller, who counted down to the drop detonate it to prevent the enemy from kept at least two Commando Vault crews from 10 to one, followed by, “Hack.” using the TNT. at Cam Ranh at all times. Each mission carried two bombs, Contrary to common belief that the HOW IT WORKED one for the primary target and one for bombs were “rolled out the back” of When the loadmaster heard “hack,” a backup. Sometimes the second bomb the C-130s, delivery was actually very he pulled the release handle and sent the was dropped adjacent to the clearing precise. After they arrived at Cam Ranh bomb on its way. As the load left the ramp, left by the first in order to enlarge it. If Bay by ship, the bombs went to the 14th the static lines pulled knives through the it wasn’t needed at the primary target, Aerial Port Squadron rigging section webbing and the bomb separated from the second bomb was dropped on a where they were placed on wooden the pallet. A triangular parachute, which secondary target. cradles secured to modular air-drop deployed during the separation, stabilized Only minor modifications were re- pallets with cotton and nylon webbing. the bomb as it fell. It took 26 seconds for quired to turn the transports into bombers. The bombs were secured to their cradles the bomb to fall 6,000 feet. By the time The scanner’s intercom control boxes on with the same materials. The webbing it went off, the C-130 was some distance all of the 463rd C-130s were rewired so was rigged so it all came together at away; however, the shock wave caused the loadmaster could monitor the radios. two points on top of the bomb with a brief jolt. Small antennas were installed on both a harness over the nose. Each point Each bomb had two fuses: a conven- sides of the fuselage. A technician taped was connected by straps with a metal tional impact fuse at the front—armed by a a small battery-powered transponder to a “knife” rigged into the connection, and propeller on a three-foot “tree penetrator” seat rail on the side that would be facing the knives were attached to static lines. extension—and a fuse set off by a timer the radar during the drop and hooked it The last operational BLU-82 detonates at the test range in Utah.