Editing Lockheed MC-130 (section)

===Combat Talon I losses===
Two of the four aircraft assigned to Project ''Stray Goose'' were lost in combat: 64-0563 was destroyed on 25 November 1967, by a direct hit of a mortar round while parked on the Nha Trang flightline. The aircraft had been scheduled for a mission and had just completed preflight of the exterior when the mission was cancelled. Soon after the crew left the ramp, the aircraft was hit and destroyed by fire.<ref name="ct89">Thigpen (2001), p. 89.</ref>

64-0547 was [[Missing in action|missing-in-action]] with its entire 11-man crew on 29 December 1967, on a mission to drop leaflets inside North Vietnam. The Blackbird had completed its leaflet drop leg of the mission at {{convert|30000|ft|abbr=on}} and begun its descent to its terrain-following exit altitude. Communication was lost without the Blackbird reporting any threats detected. SOF commanders at the time discounted the possibility of its being shot down because the flight, conducted by an inexperienced aircraft commander under new moon conditions, was not claimed as such by North Vietnam. In November 1992, the wreckage was located near the peak of a mountain {{convert|32|mi|abbr=on}} northeast of [[Dien Bien Phu]], and it was surmised that its descent was too steep for its TF/TA radar to stabilize. 64-0547 was the only special operations MC-130 lost on a combat mission over hostile terrain in the history of the program.<ref name="ct90">Thigpen (2001), p. 90–101.</ref>

64-0558 was lost in a mid-air collision during a night training exercise 15 miles north of [[Conway, South Carolina]] on 5 December 1972. An [[F-102 Delta Dagger]] of the [[South Carolina Air National Guard]], attempting a night intercept of the Talon, flew into the fuel [[drop tank]] on its right wing, with the loss of both aircraft, killing all 12 aboard the C-130E(I). 64-0558 had been one of the two Talons assigned to the Son Tay POW camp rescue mission.<ref>Thigpen (2001), p. 70. The F-102 was AF Ser. No. 56-1517 of the SCANG's [[157th Fighter Squadron|157th Fighter Interceptor Squadron]].</ref>

Former ''Heavy Chain'' and Desert One veteran 64-0564 crashed into the ocean shortly after a pre-dawn takeoff from [[NAS Cubi Point]], Philippines, on 26 February 1981, killing 15 passengers and eight of nine crewmen. The Talon was taking part in ''Special Warfare Exercise 81'' and had flown 12 missions in the preceding 16 days. Following an administrative flight the day before, the crew was scheduled for its last mission, a night exercise that was set back from 01:00 local time to 04:30. The flight profile consisted of a normal takeoff, a tactical landing a half-hour later to onload 15 Navy SEALs, followed by a tactical takeoff. The Talon reported normal flight conditions six minutes after the tactical takeoff, but crashed nine minutes later. No cause was determined, but investigators found that the likely causes were either crew fatigue from operations tempo, or failure of the terrain following radar to enter "override" mode while over water.<ref>Thigpen (2001), pp. 248–249. "Override" shuts down the terrain-following mode when the system fails to receive return signals because of a water surface, enabling normal low altitude warnings to give alarms.</ref>