07/08/2026
DID YOU KNOW? โ๏ธ
Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville is the largest C-130 base in the world.
Here are a few more facts about "Herk Nation":
๐ The base is the primary C-130 Hercules training base for the entire Department of Defense, training pilots, navigators, flight engineers and loadmasters from every branch of the U.S. military.
๐ The base trains C-130 aircrews from 47 partner nations, making it home to the largest international flying training program in the DoD.
๐ต The base only exists because of local citizens. In 1952, the Pulaski County Citizens Council raised nearly $1 million to buy land from more than 150 private landowners and donate it to the Air Force after Congress said there was no money to build a base.
๐ It opened in 1955 as a Strategic Air Command jet bomber base and even hosted Titan II nuclear missiles in the 1960s before the first C-130 arrived in March 1970.
๐ Today the base is the fourth-largest employer in Arkansas, with a local economic impact of more than $813 million and a working population of about 7,200.
๐ฌ The C-130 on display at the main gate, Tail #56-0518, flew the last Hercules flight out of Saigon in 1975, packed with more than 450 evacuees.
The C-130 has been in continuous production longer than any other military aircraft in history. And its home is right here in Arkansas.