A little tidbit on the skis used on the C-130. They are classified as a "strategic weapon" so Lockheed is not allowed to sell a ski-equipped Herc to anyone outside of the United States, and maybe/likely not to anyone but the US military.
Interesting factoid #2: The early C-130's had a problem with the nosewheel hydraulic strut failing for some reason, corrosion or wear, something. An old time mechanic here in Fairbanks, Hutch Hutchinson", a local legend in Alaska, had an idea and procured a worn out strut cylinder from the boys at Ladd Field and used his ancient belt-driven lathe to turn a liner, stainless steel maybe, for the strut then gave it back to them to try. It worked so well that Lockheed to this day makes them that way and the issue went away. That lathe ended up in the garage of Hutch's son in law, a well-known WWII cold weather test pilot here in town(Randy Acord), which is where I saw and played with it a bit. I think it is now in the shop of our local railroad club and is still being used to restore RR equipment.
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