First modified C-130 flies for Dutch air force

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By Craig Hoyle

The first of two secondhand Lockheed Martin C-130H transports being prepared for service entry with the Royal Netherlands Air Force has made its debut test flight from Marshall Aerospace's Cambridge airport site in the UK.

Now equipped with a glass cockpit and having also received cabin safety modifications to comply with civil certification standards, aircraft G988 will make additional test flights over the coming weeks, including in support of Dutch aircrew training activities, says Marshall.

© Marshall Aerospace

Previously operated by the US Navy and last flown in 1991, the aircraft is being acquired to bolster the Netherlands' tactical transport fleet, which now includes two stretched-fuselage C-130H-30s. Its remaining modified aircraft, G781, is on track to fly later this year after the completion of modification work.

"This total recovery and upgrade for the RNLAF has been one of the most extensive and complex ever undertaken by the company," says Marshall Aerospace chief executive Martin Broadhurst.