SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Blue Angels are in town, in case you haven’t heard. The elite fighter demonstration squad could be seen roaring over San Francisco Thursday in preparation for the annual Fleet Week Air Show.
The show will run consecutive days beginning Friday and going through the weekend. The Blue Angels will take to the sky in their iconic F/A-18 Super Hornets, performing pinpoint precision close-knit maneuvers at death-defying speeds.
Yet, one of the annual stars of the show is not a supersonic jet capable of hitting Mach 1.6, but rather a massive cargo plane known as “Fat Albert.” A fan favorite, Fat Albert is a C-130 J Super Hercules cargo plane that’s used for NATO airlifts.
The C-130J Super Hercules is capable of flying at 26,000 feet while carrying a payload of 44,500 pounds, according to Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the plane.
Even while carrying 40,000 pounds of payload, it has a range of 2,390 miles. Its maximum load is 8 pallets or 97 litters or 24 CDS bundles or 128 combat troops or 92 paratroopers.
While Fat Albert may be big and look slow compared to the F/A-18 Super Hornets, it’s anything but lumbering. The C-130-J Super Hercules has a maximum speed of 410 mph at 22,000 feet.
Fans of the Blue Angels will instantly recognize Fat Albert, which usually puts in a 15-minute cameo prior to the Blue Angels headline performance in their Super Hornets. But the plane is not only part of the air show. Fat Albert also carries the team’s maintenance and support equipment from place to place as the Blue Angels travel between shows.
The C-130 J Super Hercules has been part of the Blue Angels roster of aircraft since 2020, when it replaced the previous Fat Albert, the C-130 Hercules, which was in service for 30 years, beginning in 1970.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Blue Angels are in town, in case you haven’t heard. The elite fighter demonstration squad could be seen roaring over San Francisco Thursday in preparation for the annual Fleet Week Air Show. The show will run consecutive days beginning Friday and going through the weekend. The Blue Angels will take […]
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