Fat Albert opens the show for the Blue Angels

Published Sept. 12, 2010
By Senior Airman Samantha S. Crane
375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are known for their high-performance, tactical F/A-18 Hornets, but without Fat Albert, the show wouldn't happen.

Fat Albert is a C-130 Hercules aircraft manned by an all-Marine crew consisting of three pilots, two flight engineers, a navigator, a flight mechanic and a loadmaster.
"We support the jets logistically," said Marine Staff Sgt. Jarred McIntosh, Fat Albert flight engineer.

Fat Albert joined the team in 1970 and soon garnered its nickname from a popular children's cartoon by the same name because of its size and shape.

Fat Albert flies more than 140,000 miles each season, carrying more than 40 maintenance and support personnel, their gear and enough spare parts and communication equipment to complete a successful air show. Each year, a third of the crew moves on to new assignments and the remaining members choose their replacements based on applicant packages. Selection to the team requires a unanimous decision by current members.

But Fat Albert's mission isn't just to transport crew and equipment. Beginning in 1975, the C-130 began kicking off each Blue Angels show with a 10-minute showcase of the plane's tactical maneuvers, which are used in combat environments.

The crew begins with a combat takeoff, which is used to clear short runways and gain high altitude in a short period of time - an ability which may be necessary in combat situations. The rest of the show displays the tactical flight characteristics of the C-130 including high-powered turns, climbs and dips and ending with a combat landing in which the aircraft comes to a complete stop in less than 1,000 feet.

"This plane can get to places others can't," said Marine Gunnery Sergeant Joe Alley, Fat Albert navigator. "It's the most successful plane ever built."