Some come and some go, if in 2023 the Indonesian Air Force is scheduled to receive the first unit of the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft, then towards the end of this year, the Indonesian Air Force also officially releases or retires one of the old series Hercules fleet, namely the C- 130B Hercules – short body – which has been operated by the 32nd Air Squadron at Abdulrachman Saleh Air Base, Malang.
The retired C-130B is the second batch of Hercules received by Indonesia, namely the aircraft numbered A-1312.
Citing sources from the Air Squadron 32 Instagram account – skadronudara32official, it was stated that on November 9, 2022, the last flight of the C-130B A-1312 was carried out, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Colonel Dodik Supriyanto, as the 32nd Air Squadron Command, along with 12 crew.
Even though it belongs to the old Hercules generation, the C-130B A-1312 is not the one imported in the 60s decade. Even so, the overall operational life of the C-130B A-1312 has reached 62 years.
In historical records, the C-130B A-1312 is part of the second wave of the Hercules fleet received by the Indonesian Air Force, namely in the 1974-1975 period, Indonesia received a grant (assistance) from the United States in the form of three C-130B units, which were previously used by the Air Force. USA (USAF) in the Vietnam War. The three C-130Bs are the A-1311, A-1312 and A-1313.
The receipt of three units of C-130B - A-1311, A-1312 and A-1313, inevitably became evidence of US support at that time for Indonesian military operations in East Timor in Operation Seroja. In the same period, Indonesia also received the destroyer escort Claud Jones Class (Samadikun Class) from the US.
For information, during that period, the code for the Indonesian Air Force Hercules fleet used the code "T" and changed to code "A" in 1982.
When the three ex-Vietnam War C-130Bs were received by the Indonesian Air Force, at that time the Air Force was already operating 10 C-130B Hercules. To be precise, the first batch of Hercules (1960 – 1961) consisted of 8 units of C-130B and 2 units of KC-130B (tankers) with registration numbers T-1301 – T-1310 (now A-1301 – A1310).
Until now, the first generation of C-130 Hercules, namely the C-130B, is still operated by the 32nd Air Squadron. Even one force with the A-1301, namely the A-1303 Hercules, has recently completed the retrofit and upgrade process.
The C-130B A-1303 is one of 10 units of the first C-130B Hercules owned by Indonesia since 1960. The first generation Hercules Type B aircraft was the result of a barter between the Indonesian government and the United States who wanted the release of Allan L. Pope, a paid pilot with citizenship The US was held captive by the Indonesian government at that time.
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