More than 15 percent of the approximately 2,350 Lockheed C-130 Hercules production hulls have been lost, including 70 by the US Air Force and the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
By the nature of the Hercules' worldwide service, the pattern of losses provides a barometer of global hotspots over the past fifty years.
Production Hercules have all been built at the Lockheed-Marietta, Georgia plant, and began their c/ns at 3001 (USAF 53-3129, still extant at the Air Force Armament Museum).
The 817th Troop Carrier Squadron/6315th Operations Group crew of C-130A 57-0475, c/n 3182, a Blind Bat flareship, crashed into high ground at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, April 24, 1965 during a go-around in bad weather with a heavy load, combined with two lost engines, low fuel, making the unfortunate crew the first Hercules loss in Southeast Asia.
Although three U.S. Navy Hercules were attrited during the period of the conflict in Southeast Asia, none were in theater, nor had anything to do with combat operations or support, therefore, they do not appear in Vietnam loss tables.