How about the C-47? Pretty much the workhorse of WWII and has the Berlin airlift to its credit. I beleive even in its comparatively short life span to the C-130 roughly four times as many C-47s were produced. well, maybe give the C-47 a runner up slot ;-)

I, too, immediately thought of the C-47, but agree that runner-up is appropriate. C-47 was best of breed when introduced, but was eclipsed by C-54 before end of WWII. It wasn't really optimized for cargo loading and really didn't carry a lot either. It was just best of what was available at time. Whereas, the C-130 has stayed as frontline Tactical Transport for decades and is still in production. It is also optimized for what it is asked to do.

yah I agree C-130. I'm gonna start referring to anything thats the Best Of All Time as B.O.A.T. WAHHOO!!! I CREATED AN ACRONYM!

It's hard to beat the C-130. Longest running continous production line in history, flown by almost 60 countries, configurations from gun ships to hospital ships and everything inbetween including huricane chasers and tankers. It's just your basic pick up truck of airlift.

It would think the Dakota and the Hercules are about even: The Dak made the light air transport feasible, the right size and range. The c-46 Commando lifted more, but was more expensive as far as I recall. The Ju52-3m about the same as Dak - the manufaturer was closed by violent means however. The C-47 has not really been replaced - there are a lot of suggestion on the market, but you pay a hefty price for special whishes. The Herc made the truely tactical transport: It carries all the stuff a light unit needs, and is able to haul the trash to where they are, and has capacity to keep them supplied. The C-54 did a job you really need jet engines for. Its sterling performance during the Berlin airlift was really faute de mieux. But it proved that a city can be supplied from the air - and pointed to better ways of doing it. The other great event was the supply af a fighting division at DaNang. It is against such events the greatness should be measured, as it changes the options of a nation.

I would say the Huey and Chinook deserve runner up slots for best tactical transport, if your going by a literal definition.

Note that a recent US Military Airlft Study recomended the cecssation of C130 purchases. (Avaiation Weekly - November) As current orders from other nations are insuffcient this would lead to the shutdown of C130 production & possible dismatling of the production line. Somehow I think this recomendation needs to be filed in the back drawer.

"Somehow I think this recomendation needs to be filed in the back drawer." Why? The C130 has beenthe greates, but it doesn't meet the needs of the currnet army requirements. For a start, the Stryker barely fits, and even then, only when stripped. The Europeans could have bought more of these, but they looked at their requirements and decided that it didn't fit any more. Thats why they took the more expensive option of building a bigger design from scratch, the A400M. The US should do the same; either build the A400M under licence, or build a new similar design from scratch. The C130 has been the best medium lift aircraft for the last 50 years or so, but now it's past its sell by date.

I agree with many of you, the C-130 is the best ever, but the A400 or something similar is the future for the US.

Replacing the C130 with something better has sense, but that is not what the 'Mobility Capabilities Study' recomends. (re: Aviation Weekly. Oct 31 2005). The draft released in October declares current numbers of aircraft suffcient & no new purchases be made of C130 or C17. Retaining C5 transports is proposed vs contracting further C17 as replacements. The report makes no provision for replacing 30 existing C130 currently grounded for wing fractures. These are included in the totals the report gives for avaialble aircraft. Note that cessation of purchases of the C17 shuts down that production facility as well. The only new purchases Aviation Weekly quotes from the report are possible limited purchases of either Boeing 767 or A330 aircraft for air refueling tankers. Essentialy the MCS (as quoted by Av. Wkly.) assumes most existing airframes will be available through the year "2012". Aside from the 30 C130 airframes grounded the current avaialbility rate for the C5 is somewhere south of 50%.