Pictures of US Marine Corp Aircraft at SHANNON.

What most of us never see.

This is just one of a hell of a lot of aircraft that have been coming and going through Shannon since late September. If I had better equipment I'd have put this and many others up ages ago. Anyway, these photos are probably the best quality as this aircraft remained on the ground into daylight hours.

This is a KC-130 Hercules from VMRG 352 "Raider" squadron at Marine Corp Air Support (MCAS) Miramar, California.
The aircraft ref is QB 9792

The aircraft is 97ft long, 132 ft wingspan and 38ft high.
The cargo bay can be used to store a mid-air refuelling vessel which enables the KC-130 to perform mid-air refuelling for 2 fighter jets or two helicopters simoultaneously.
The refuelling vessel is removable, and the cargo bay can also accomodate 96 fully armed marines, or a few tonnes of heavy artillery, or one or two BLU-82 "Daisy cutter" fuel-air bombs.

The aircraft was refuelled overnight by a company called FBO Shannon who are based in the main terminal at Shannon airport.