The sheer scope of size that an aircraft carrier brings to the table defies belief. Even if you go back over fifty years ago, the aircraft carriers of the day were something to behold. Holding nearly 90 aircraft of different types on board a ship that had over 200 feet of length on the Titanic, running operations wherever, whenever, the likes of fighter jets, shuttles, and helicopters roaming around at any given point in time is staggering. Well-choreographed execution of duty and a sharp eye for safety makes things happen. But you know what else makes things happen? Supplies. Think for a moment on what it takes to keep a carrier operating: food, utility supplies, personnel. Now, imagine stuffing all of that into a C-1 Trader, a small piston-engine airframe that could pack nine people or 3,500 pounds of cargo. Now look at the C-130 Hercules, which can haul at least 65 passengers, or pack in more cargo than the Trader could have ever dreamed of.

This was the issue that was facing the Navy in the early 1960s. The Trader was useful enough, but with the arrival of the USS Forrestal in the late 1950s, the United States Navy suddenly had an idea. The C-1 Trader functioned in a role known as “carrier on-board delivery”, which pretty much amounted to air mail service for the most part. But if you traded out the C-1 for the C-130, you would have “Super-COD”…if you could get a C-130 to land on the deck without incident. Would that even be possible?

It was. It was more successful than you’d be willing to believe. And in the end, it wasn’t going to happen. But seeing that big beast on final for a carrier deck is something to behold. And hey, they had a plan in case the plane couldn’t get off of the deck again: they’d dump it into the sea.