Hercules’s Final Labor

Capt. Michael Wolff and Maj. Cory Jones of the U.S. Marine Corps were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross—the military’s penultimate award for aviator valor—after piloting their stricken C-130J to a survivable landing in a California cauliflower field subsequent an inflight collision with an F-35 Lightning II.

The September 2020 incident occurred during a refueling mission to support Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1, based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.

The cause of the collision remains undetermined. What is known, is that during an attempt to tap a refueling line extended from an external fuel tank beneath the C-130’s starboard wing, the F-35B impacted the larger aircraft, destroying its number three and four engines.

By dint of good fortune, the grace of merciful gods, or dumb luck, the collision did not damage the C-130’s ailerons, elevators, or rudder.

“Anything that was loose in the cockpit went flying,” Wolff said during a post-incident interview. “It was pretty violent… I got my headset back on, grabbed the yoke and I got the plane back under control.”

The impact compromised the C-130’s fuselage, precipitating a rapid decompression and an emergency descent.

Black smoke trailed the Hercules earthward as its starboard fuel-tanks burned. “I can see the number-four engine from my seat, but I can’t see number-three,” Wolff recalled.

The crew in the aircraft’s rear compartment confirmed Wolff’s observation, and the flightcrew deployed engine fire-suppression.

Unbeknownst to the C-130 crew, the F-35B by which they’d been struck had since gone down in the desert. Its pilot—assigned to the “Green Knights” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121–ejected before impact and landed safely.

With fuel trailing, a possible wing fire, and obvious damage to the right main-gear, the crew prudently elected to land as soon as possible.

The C-130’s position and altitude favored Thermal / Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport—toward which Wolff and Jones proceeded. While on approach, however, an excursion below Vmc sent the aircraft into an un-commanded right turn—then into the cauliflower and California mud. 

Wolff estimates the airplane skidded three-to-four-hundred yards before stopping. “It wasn’t quite like the movies  … We came to a stop pretty quickly,” he said.

So ended the final flight of KC-130J, bureau number 166765. The collision, fire damage, and emergency landing rendered the once regal aircraft a collection of spare parts.

In the week following the incident, investigators and Marine Corps maintenance crews combed through the wreckage, collecting data and salvage after the fashion of their professions. Finally VMGR-352 personnel brought in a crane and …

The airplane’s aft-stabilizers were preserved, painted in the color of its squadron, and fashioned into a display of what was, and a sober reminder of what may have been had her crew not acquitted itself so admirably.

“We fly as a crew,” Wolff said. “I’m proud of how everyone handled themselves and kept calm.”

FMI: www.marines.mil