Hercules

Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow. Whether it’s war, natural disaster, or humanitarian emergency, for over fifty years the RAF’s Hercules force was the first in and last out of any crisis faced by the UK government around the globe.

First conceived in the 1950s, the US-built Lockheed C-130 Hercules earned its spurs flying difficult and dangerous missions in the Vietnam War before entering service with air forces around the world. Originally designed as transport aircraft, the Hercules has been pressed into service as an aerial tanker, gunship, spyplane, air-sea rescuer and bomber. It’s even been flown from an aircraft carrier - the largest aeroplane ever to do so. Instantly recognisable, it became synonymous with daring special forces missions like the legendary raid in Entebbe in which dozens hostages were rescued from the clutches of terrorists. In RAF colours its seen action on every continent on the planet including Antarctica, flying life and death missions in the Falklands, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan and all points in between.

Former RAF Hercules Captain Scott Bateman opens the cockpit to give an action-packed insider’s account of what it’s like to fly this legendary flying machine in peace and war, and at home abroad, paying tribute to the remarkable men and women who operated this much loved aircraft, and to those comrades in arms who, in doing so, made the ultimate sacrifice.