Reposted from rec.aviation.piloting:
Iwan Bogels Dec 13, 2:40 pm
On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in
Tehran and took approximately seventy Americans captive. This terrorist act
lasted 444 days and during this period the US tried to think of several ways
to set the hostages free.
One revolutionary idea was to land a C-130 Hercules at a soccer field near
the hostage site and set the hostages free with military force. As a soccer
field in the middle of a city is virtually impossible to use as a landing
site, the USAF had to make drastic conversions to their aircraft in order to
even think of a chance of success.
The result was the "Credible Sport" project, in which four regular C-130H
aircraft were converted into YMC-130H specials with ESTOL (Extremely Short
Take Off and Landing) capabilities. In order to achieve the ultra short
landing and take-off, several rockets had to be installed to force the
aircraft to a quick stop and get it back airborne with a full load of people
within 300 feet. It was determined that 180,000 of thrust, equal to nearly
20 times the C-130's standard turboprop engines, would be required to get a
C-130 off in the length of a soccer field and over the surrounding
obstructions. The plane would be 300 feet in the air after traveling 300
feet forward and with a take off roll of just 100 feet.
Forward pointing rockets were installed to provide reverse thrust during
landing, as well as downward pointed rockets to cushon the landing. In order
to bring such a heavy aircraft to a quick stop, the amount of rocket power
was unprecedented. Needless to say that this aircraft had to be tested
before it could be used in action, and unfortunately the first test flight
did not go as planned.
See the test for yourself at
http://www.dappa.nl/crash.htm
