[Photo] Six C-130 Hercules aircraft practice large formation airlift tactics and procedures

March 3, 2013 Military Aviation

On Feb. 21, 2013, a formation of six C-130 Hercules from Yokota Air Base, Japan participated in a mission whose aim was to practice large formation airlift tactics and procedures.

In the image below, the aircraft perform a so-called Elephant Walk, taxiing in sequence for the active runway.

The following photograph shows the Hercules airlifters of the 374th Airlift Wing leaving smoke trails in the skies over Yokota.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

A Yokota based U.S. C-130 was tailed by Chinese J-7 and J-10 fighters as it reached the airspace close to the border between China and Japan on Jan. 10, 2013.

About David Cenciotti 4417 Articles

David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written four books.