Courtesy of Craig Hoyle, Defence Editor:
"Bit heavy on the C-4 there, Hoskins", as the departed Uncle Roger might have commented about this, erm, generous use of explosives.
Freshly posted via the Live Leak website, the above video(which contains strong language) shows the last moments of UK Royal Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130J ZH876. Worth an estimated £45 million ($82 million), the aircraft was destroyed by coalition forces the day after after sustaining heavy damage in an incident while landing at a remote site in Iraq's Maysaan province on 12 February 2007.
The aircraft, which was carrying six crew and 58 passengers, veered off the runway after being hit by two improvised explosive devices, catching fire on its badly damaged port wing. Three people suffered minor injuries on evacuating the stricken transport, which was subsequently "deemed unrecoverable due to operational constraints", according to a Board of Inquiry investigation into the mishap.
Published in May, the BoI report also revealed that an RAF C-130K involved in evacuating personnel 40min after the incident also suffered damage to its nose and main wheels and underbelly after striking debris while landing on the strip. The second aircraft also landed despite it being unclear whether further IEDs had been placed, it says.
BoI recommendations included that remote sites should be better inspected prior to use, and weapons storage and evacuation practices improved on the C-130J.
Meanwhile, its report noted: "Even if this aircraft had been fitted with explosion suppressant foam it is the board's opinion that it would not have reduced the damage sustained." The Hercules' potential vulnerability to wing fires had been exposed during a prior fatal accident involving RAF C-130K XV206 in May 2006.
ZH876 remains the only new-generation Hercules to have been lost by C-130J-operating nations, and a testament to the type's particularly hard use in the hands of the RAF in Iraq and Afghanistan.
good work from Skippy The Detonator
WTF - It's a C130J dammit, it should've been rebuilt or donated to the Iraqi Airforce. And they left those perfect engines and props on there too!! Ridiculous waste! I wonder if the cockpit there is intact as well....
There would be no rebuilding the aircraft...it was in remote territory controlled by exceptionally hostile militia. Defense of the area would have been too costly an endeavor.
That's crap.....it would have only taken 1 day and six maintainers to get what they could salvage from that aircraft. I should know, I'm a C-130J-30 crew chief for the U.S. Air force.