Story of Innovation: C-130 Hercules

On August 23, 1954, the first flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft occurred. An excerpt from the article:

"It was 1951, and the U.S. Air Force was seeking designs for an aircraft capable of hauling large bulky equipment, including artillery pieces and tanks, over long distances. It had to land in tight spaces, slow to 125 knots for paratroop drops, and fly, if need be, with one engine. What the Air Force wanted, in other words, was a tough, versatile heavylifter with plenty of “trunk” space.

Hall Hibbard, Lockheed’s chief engineer, eyed the request and saw potential. Design genius Kelly Johnson, by contrast, viewed it as a potential disaster, a diversion from the high-speed, high-performance jet fighters that were his focus.

“If you send that in,” Johnson told his boss, Hibbard, referring to an early proposal for the aircraft, “you’ll destroy the Lockheed Company.”

It’s a good thing Hibbard didn’t listen. When the prototype YC-130 taxied for its inaugural flight on Aug. 23, 1954, it was clear to all—even Johnson— that the Lockheed engineers had forged something timeless out of a seemingly simple list of Air Force requirements.
Later officially nicknamed Hercules, the prototype had a cargo deck that was capable of carrying an astonishing 300 pounds per square foot, lifted into the air after a ground roll of a mere 855 feet, an astoundingly short distance considering most aircraft of that size required 5,000 feet."