When the order came to start measuring the C-130 Hercules in preparation for an aircraft carrier landing and launch test, engineers at the Naval Air Test Center thought someone must be joking. With a wingspan of 132-feet, few could imagine that the C-130 would be able to operate off of a flight deck only 1,017-feet long and approximately 250-feet wide. But the Department of the United States Navy needed to find out the feasibility of landing large planes on carriers for resource transportation.

As U.S. carrier fleets were being deployed around the world to increasingly more remote locations, the existing supply logistics relying on the Grumman C-1 Trader were proving insufficient. Configured for carrier operations, the small twin-engine C-1 had comparatively limited range and payload capacity. To solve the problem, the Navy assembled a team of shocked pilots and engineers to figure out how to land a colossal C-130 on the supercarrier USS Forrestal. Given the considerable uncertainty around the experiment, plans were made to toss the aircraft overboard with a crane should it prove unable to take off again...